LIBRARY Of CONGRESS. 
BT^SM 

Cliap.„..„.. Copyright No. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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SALVATION 



IN A 



TWO-FOLD ASPECT 



THE GOSPEL: 

IS IT MERELY AN ADDITION TO THE *' LAW/' OR IS 

IT IN TRUTH THE " GLAD TIDINGS " OF AN 

INFINITE LOVE? 



BY 

DAVID SCULL 
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PHILADELPHIA 

JOHN C. WINSTON & CO, 

1897 




5Vi 



Copyright, 1896, by Da^^d Scull. 



The Library 
OF Congress 



WASHINGTON 



I GLADLY avail myself of this opportunity to 
acknowledge my deep obligation to John McLeod 
Campbell, of Scotland, for the spiritual help re- 
ceived through his writings. 

The ties of affection would prompt me to dedi- 
cate this little volume to the memory of my 
beloved brother, Edward L. Scull, with whom 
the bond of an endeared earthly relation was 
enriched by a deep unity in the spiritual life, 
yet I am assured that from a motive similar to 
my own he would have encouraged this tribute 
of Christian love to one whom he also felt to be 
a true prophet — a spiritual seer discerning the 
truth in advance of his generation. 

Through the courage of John McLeod Camp- 
bell, inspired by a sense of the value of the truth 
revealed to him, and through his faithfulness in 
declaring it, in the face of much opposition, 
many have been enabled more fully to enter into 
that priceless freedom to which the truth invites. 

D.S. 



(3) 



CONTENTS. 



PAGH 

Introduction 7 

Conditions of salvation — Inconsistency between 
the statements of doctrine and that to which the 
spiritual consciousness bears witness as essential . 15 

Twofold aspect of salvation— Indicated by 
man's spiritual history and the principles involved 
in salvation 27 

Spiritual union with God— It may be a union 
in righteousness, or a union in righteousness and 
love 44 

Some conclusions to which the foregoing point . 49 

The twofold aspect which characterizes much 
important spiritual truth ..... 55 

The broadening spiritual vision of the 
Church — A result that should follow ... 59 

Pardon and salvation — The importance in this 
connection of viewing pardon both in its relative 
and its absolute aspects 61 

Spiritual life and salvation regarded as con- 
vertible terms 70 

The supernatural in Christ — Its true sphere 
and relation to the natural operation of the law 

of the spirit of life 82 

(5) 



PAGE 

Morality and EELiaiON — Their relation in the 
light of the truth herein presented . . .97 

The doctrine of the " Trinity"— Some objections 
examined — Considerations supporting that doc- 
trine 105 

A comprehensive view of life and salvation 
— If spiritually intelligent, furnishes the strongest 
position for Evangelical truth . . . .120 

Concluding summary 126 

Appendix notes 139 



INTKODUCTION. 



The following thoughts are the result of con- 
viction long held and steadily strengthened by 
observation and reflection upon the religious life 
of the time. 

The conclusion has been impressed that in the 
doctrinal testimony of the Church at large there 
is a departure from the simplicity that is in Christ 
and His teaching, which introduces a confusion 
involving especially the foundation-truths of the 
nature and work of Christ. 

In the nature of the case it is impossible that 
the Trinitarian^ and the Unitarian should view 
the above truths from the same standing-point. I 
believe, however, that there should be possible some 
Evangelical platform broad enough, though with 
only the Gospel measure of '^ Glad Tidings"^ for 

1 The word Trinitarian where appearing throughout these pages 
is used only because it expresses concisely the truth of the three- 
fold manifestation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is, there- 
fore, not intended to convey the idea of three persons. 

2 Luke, 1-19. 

(7) 



8 

all men, upon which both could stand with some 
degree of satisfaction and mutual charity. My de- 
sire is to confirm the evangelical position by giving 
to it its true breadth within the Gospel limits. 

It is manifest that any statement on this subject 
most likely to receive a united acceptance must 
be of orthodox origin. 

I feel that this, and this only, justifies me in vol- 
unteering any reference to my own attitude toward 
the truth referred to. I desire also to remove, 
as much as possible, any obstruction to a candid 
consideration of the thoughts presented, which are 
prompted solely by a desire to relieve the Gospel 
from that which I believe to be a hindrance to 
its progress. 

Therefore, conscious of the obligation upon any 
one who even '^ nameth the name of Christ,''^ I 
feel it right in entering upon such a discussion to 
assume the greater responsibility involved in ac- 
knowledging, without reservation or secret inter- 
pretation of any kind, my absolute conviction of 
the Deity of Christ, and my belief in the need, 
the efficacy, and the inestimable preciousness of 
His Atonement on the cross of Calvary. 

1 2 Tim. 2-19. 



9 

Sadly different, so far as I can imagine it, would 
be the outlook upon my spiritual horizon if bereft 
of the light of the love which shines in the Incar- 
nation and the Atonement. Great would be my 
unrest of spirit, if to the questions which press for 
answer and vitally affect my deepest interests, I 
could reply only from the evidence evolved through 
my spiritual consciousness, however fully developed 
it might be in response to the light of nature. 
However comforting might be the approval of 
conscience upon honest efforts for obedience to 
its voice, yet discomforting to a far greater degree 
would be the frequent condemnations of that voice, 
especially under the quickening necessarily devel- 
oped through my conception of Infinite Holiness, 
unrelieved, as such conception would be, by the 
supernatural revelation of the love of a Divine 
Fatherhood. There is much that would suggest 
the probability of the existence of this love toward 
me ; but there is also much in the outward world 
of life and circumstance, and in the existence 
of permitted evil, which apparently contradicts 
the control of Infinite power and love. There- 
fore, I could not but question my conclusions in 
regard to the Most High, inspired possibly by 



10 

my hope, nor rest tranquilly upon my unaided 
intuitions as to the ^^ unknown God" and my 
relation to Him. But in the Incarnation and 
work of Christ I realize that complete provision 
is made for my deepest needs. 

It is useless to speculate as to whether any other 
way for man's redemption might have been adopted 
by God, or whether it was possible for man to enter 
into the divine favor without any satisfaction being 
rendered for violated law. We do know, however, 
that if this were possible, and were we to imagine 
unconditional forgiveness to be arbitrarily declared 
by a voice from heaven, but little would thereby 
be accomplished for man's redemption. That 
alone would not bring about the change in his 
nature which is absolutely requisite in order for 
him to enter into the benefit of the pardon. With- 
out such a change he would not only be unfitted 
for salvation, but through a pardon not under- 
stood, or perhaps misinterpreted in its significance, 
he would probably be confirmed in his feeling of 
independence and alienation from God. 

There is abundant evidence that man's con- 
sciousness of sin can be removed only by sat- 
isfying his sense of justice ; that innate sense 



11 

of right, giving evidence of his divine lineage, 
which he may defiantly violate in his own con- 
duct, but whose claims, when '^ he comes to him- 
self," he cannot dismiss, and which he feels must 
be met before he can know peace with God, or 
find shelter from the remorseful memories of a 
sinful past. As moreover he advances in that 
knowledge which is '' life eternal,'' he v/ill see that 
the chief element in his peace with God is not 
the belief, helpful as it may be, of any change in 
God's disposition toward him, by which he is freed 
from the guilt of past sin, but that it is due to 
his conscious freedom from the dominion of sin, 
through the '' expulsive power of a new affection," 
quickening his desire for conformity to every 
apprehension of the divine will, and trans- 
forming his nature into some degree of likeness 
to the Holy Example of Him who has attracted 
him by self-sacrifice, and thus justifies to the con- 
science of the sinner the free pardon for violated 
law. 

Thus with all the help that is ministered oh- 
jectively by the Atonement of Christ, I believe 
for the above reasons that in its subjective oper- 
ation in cleansing the conscience there could 



12 

"without shedding of blood be no remission"^ 
of sin. 

I am aware that the influence of holy lives is 
probably the most powerful human agency in the 
promotion of divine truth, — '' living epistles," 
whose language cannot be misinterpreted, minister- 
ing mainly to the spiritual affections. But the 
reverent thought of faith has its place also in 
establishing the kingdom of Him '* in whom are 
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."^ 

I therefore submit these reflections as a contri- 
bution, however slight, toward the attainment of 
that result. My object is to present a view of sal- 
vation at once more comprehensive in one respect 
and also more limited than that which now gener- 
ally prevails. More comprehensive, because seen in 
the light of the truth that character, rather than 
belief about Christ, must be the true foundation 
for a hope of salvation in its simplest aspect, as the 
continuance of life in a future state ; more limited, 
because of the conviction that '^belief" in the 
Deity and Atonement of Christ is not realized in 
its true Gospel sense unless such belief is *' with 
the heart, "^ and therefore leaves its own special 

1 Heb. ch. ix. 22. 2 col. ch. ii. 3. s i^om. ch. x, 10. 



13 

impress upon the character in the present life, 
adding to those virtues of (even) a Gospel morality, 
which may have existed, the relation of a personal, 
penitential love to Christ, which thus becomes the 
motive of a new life of conscious sonship to God 
in Him. 

I am persuaded that were this twofold thought 
of salvation, reasonable in itself, in harmony 
with Christ's teachings, and marked by the sim- 
plicity of the truth, accepted by others, they 
would find, as I have done, that it opens up a 
larger and richer outlook over the realm of divine 
grace, with a deepened conception of the truth, 
that the Gospel, which is ^* the power of God unto 
salvation,"^ is also in truth the '^glad tidings" of 
an Infinite Love. 

1 Rom. i. 16. 



THE GOSPEL 



IS IT MERELY AN ADDITION TO THE '' LAW," OR IS IT IN 
TRUTH THE "GLAD TIDINGS" OP AN INFINITE LOVE? 



A MODERATE acquaintance with the religious 
life of the present day, and with its doctrinal 
teachings, reveals to the thoughtful mind a con- 
fusion of ideas regarding the essentials of salva- 
tion, as related to moral requirement and to 
faith in Christ, viewed from the standpoint of 
orthodox theology. 

To illustrate what is meant, let the rea- 
sonable supposition be made, that an observer 
of intelligence and spiritual discernment is inti- 
mately thrown with two persons, one of them 
a Unitarian;^ but of the views of both as re- 
gards Christ and His work the observer is en- 
tirely ignorant. Let it be assumed that he is 
to have full opportunity to learn the spiritual 
state of each, this knowledge, however, to be 
gained, not by the uncertain guide of conversa- 

1 In these pages the reference to Unitarianism must he under- 
stood as including other phases of what is known as ** liberal 
thought " in its best form. 

(15) 



16 



tion on doctrinal points, but solely through the 
evidence of their possession of the divine life, 
manifesting itself in daily walk and conversa- 
tion, and by those works of faith and love 
which can spring only from the self-denying 
spirit of Christ. The judgment of the ob- 
server would then be obtained, as to which of 
the two gave forth the clearer testimony to 
'' the power of an endless life,"^ and conse- 
quently regarding which one he would feel jus- 
tified in cherishing more distinctly the hope 
of salvation. It is not too much to assert 
that, within the acquaintance of many, some 
Unitarian could be selected as one of the two 
in the supposed test above given, between whom 
and another of orthodox belief the decision 
would have to be in favor of the former. It 
is, of course, assumed that the one of orthodox 
faith would be of irreproachable character, but 
would manifest less clearly the fruit of the Spirit. 
Would not the principle upon which such 
judgment was based be in harmony both with 
the comprehensive teaching of Scripture, and 
also with those conclusions of experience to 
which the human spirit confidently responds ? 
But such a judgment in favor of the Unitarian 

1 Heb. vii. 16. 



17 



would not be acceptable to orthodox sentiment. 
If a representative of '' Orthodoxy ^^ were called 
upon to decide in such a case, he would, if possi- 
ble, suspend his decision until the belief of each 
was known upon the subject of the Deity and 
Atonement of Christ. 

Erroneous conceptions of the divine nature 
and of its relation to man, with an overestimate 
of the value of creeds, important as they are, 
have tended to confuse the mind as to the teach- 
ing of Christ and the real purpose of the Gospel. 
But, after all, the " Sermon on the Mount '' and 
the '' Lord's Prayer ^^ present the simplest and 
truest standard of what is essential to the life 
of righteousness. Upon one ignorant of dog- 
matic theology a life manifesting in good degree 
the qualities therein referred to would have its 
natural influence. Its possessor would be cer- 
tainly viewed as a subject of the promises attached 
by our Lord to such a character : 

'' Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst 
after righteousness, for they shall be filled.^^ 

" Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall 
see God. ^^^ 

But when the observer changes his point of 
view, and instead of reaching a judgment ac- 

1 Matt. ch. V. 6-8 v. 
2 



18 



cording to the evidence of the life, forms his 
opinion in accordance with the teaching of the 
creeds of the Church at large, he sees that the 
case is changed. He then finds that when the 
characteristics of the '' Sermon on the Mount ^^ 
are manifested by those who can regard Christ 
only as a perfect pattern whose teachings are to 
be faithfully followed, the previous estimate of 
the prospects of these as participants in the 
promised blessings is wrong. Whatever his 
spirit may bear witness to as holy in such lives 
is not to be considered ; and while he may 
be unable to dismiss hope as to their final state, 
yet in his system of doctrinal truth there in no 
place for this hope. 

Is not this substantially the position of or- 
thodox Christianity ? If it would be doctrinally 
right in this matter, it must ignoi'e evidence 
which would seem to be convincing were char- 
acter alone to be regarded. In individual rela- 
tions this prompts to a charitable silence. In 
the utterances of the Church collectively, while 
for those who, like the heathen, have had no 
knowledge of the outward coming of Christ, 
there is declared to be a refuge of hope in '^ the 
uncovenanted mercies of God,^^ yet this seems 
to be forbidden in the case of Unitarians (re- 



19 

gardless of character) if judgment be based upon 
the terms of salvation as found in the declara- 
tions of the Church, This is a point of im- 
portance, and should be clearly established. 
Some evidence of its truth is afforded in the 
creeds of several of the principal branches of 
the Church. 

Turning to the Thirty-nine Articles, we find 
in Article XVIII., on " Obtaining Eternal 
Salvation Only by the Name of Christ/^ these 
words : '' They also are to be had accursed who 
presume to say that every man shall be saved 
by the law or sect which he professeth, so that 
he be diligent to frame his life according to that 
law, and the light of nature. For Holy Scrip- 
ture doth set out unto us only the name of Jesus 
Christ whereby men must be saved. ^' 

In the Westminster Confession, Article XII. 
of the proposed New Version, we find it de- 
clared of those who '' may have some common 
operations of the Spirit,^' that "inasmuch as 
they never truly come to Christ, they cannot be 
saved; neither is there salvation in any other 
way than by Christ through the Spirit, however 
diligent men may be in framing their lives ac- 
cording to the light of nature, and the law of 
that religion they do profess/' 



20 



In the Baptist ^^ Articles of Religion^' the 
evidence is not so concisely stated, but the same 
position is undoubtedly held, as shown in the 
general thought appearing at many points and 
especially in the following sentences from sev- 
eral different articles, viz., that '^ Justification is 
the great Gospel blessing which Christ secured 
io such as believe in Him;^^ that it ^' includes 
the pardon of sin and the promise of eternal 
life on the principles of righteousness, bestowed 
not for any works of righteousness, but solely 
through faith in the Eedeemer's blood/^ Re- 
garding the distinction between the righteous 
and the wicked, " Such only as through faith are 
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and 
sanctified by the spirit of our God, are truly 
righteous in His esteem. ^^ 

The Methodist Catechism, in stating the 
terms of salvation, confines itself to scriptural 
language, — '^ Repentance toward God and faith 
toward our Lord Jesus Christ,'^ — ^without inter- 
preting it otherwise than by declaring that faith 
in Jesus Christ is ^' the act of receiving and 
trusting in Him alone for salvation.^' 

In the above quotations much depends on 
what is really meant by '' faith in Christ ^^ and 
'' believing " or ^^ trusting in Him.'' It might 



21 



be maintained with no more latitude than is fre- 
quently exercised on other points of doctrine, 
that they simply set forth the terms of salva- 
tion authorized by Scripture, but do not neces- 
sarily exclude those who cannot respond to them. 
But as a matter of fact, through current obser- 
vation, we know what the prevailing understand- 
ing of the creeds really is. While, as already 
stated, there is a natural disinclination to make 
personal application of the judgment thus indi- 
cated, yet there can be no doubt that the prevail- 
ing conclusions of the corporate mind of the 
Church reflect its formal utterances, in acknowl- 
edging no comfort or hope for those of Unita- 
rian thought, and in seeing no other course than 
to '' unchurch ^^ them, no matter how exalted 
may be the influence of their daily lives. It is 
a noteworthy fact also that where any branch 
of the Church assumes distinctively the name 
'' Evangelical,^^ and thus avows a special advo- 
cacy of that particular aspect of truth, the posi- 
tion above indicated is maintained with greater 
emphasis. Both the ministry and the literature 
of such a branch are more rigid in enforcing the 
test of doctrinal belief, and are lower in their 
relative estimate of the value of character as a 
ground of hope for salvation. Thus the conclu- 



22 

sion seems unavoidable^ that the general concep- 
tion of loyalty to Christ forbids a candid estimate 
of the value of any spiritual state, however 
Christ-like in its influence, if joined to disbelief, 
however sincere, in the Deity of Christ. 

Is this in accordance with the simplicity of 
the truth ? Is it a divinely intended result of 
the Gospel ? 



He who proclaimed the Gospel declared, 
^' Every tree is known by his own fruit ; for 
of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a 
bramble bush gather they grapes. ^'^ By this 
plain but forcible illustration our Saviour called 
attention to the truth that in the spiritual as 
surely as in the natural world there are laws to 
which life responds, controlling its manifesta- 
tions and justifying certain conclusions in the 
assured connection of cause and effect. The 
spiritual law, by whose operation men do not 
expect to find the fruit of the Spirit beautifying 
an unregulated life, is the same law by which 
they can feel assured that the appearance of such 
fruit is the certain evidence of the presence and 

1 Luke vi. 44. 



23 



character of the life from which alone it can 
spring. Fallible human judgment may some- 
times be misled by appearances, and may in the 
absence of fruit mistake a bramble for a vine, but 
when the fruit is found, we know that it abso- 
lutely proves the character of the plant bearing 
it, and that the loaded branch receives its nour- 
ishing sap because of its connection with the liv- 
ing vine. Therefore, it is but in accord with the 
teachings of our Saviour to claim that the char- 
acter which manifests itself in continued fruit- 
bearing is absolute evidence, wherever found, of 
the presence and power of the divine life. 



While the inconsistent lives of professing 
Christians must continue to be the chief source 
of weakness to Christianity, yet an added source 
of weakness exists in inconsistent teaching upon 
a subject so important in its bearing on the prac- 
tical life of holiness, as the one now under con- 
sideration. A conclusion in this sphere, based 
upon dogmatic assertion and resulting in dis- 
tinctions which offend the innate sense of right, 
and which would even reverse its judgment, 
must tend to weaken response to the legitlraate 
claims of revealed religion. Upon those who 



24 

have entered into the realization of the blessings 
which the Gospel can confer, this fails to have 
any injurious effect ; but by many others its in- 
fluence is unfavorably felt, though perhaps not 
analyzed or understood, yet furnishing a desired 
excuse for indifference or criticism; while to 
the avowed representative of infidelity a strong 
ground of attack is afforded in the confusion 
thus introduced where there should be nothing 
but the harmony of the truth. 

The foregoing suggests the inquiry whether 
^^ belief ^^ as generally understood is unimpor- 
tant. The conclusion, however, implied in such 
an inquiry is unwarranted. On the contrary, my 
conviction is firm that much importance must 
ever attach to the mental attitude toward the 
Incarnation and its connected facts, an influence 
undoubtedly the foremost in the history of the 
world, and the channel of spiritual blessing at- 
tainable in no other way. There can be no eva- 
sion of the importance attached in Scripture to 
the query, '' What think ye of Christ ? ''' The 
varied and all-pervading witness of the Apos- 
tolic writings agrees with the testimony of our 
Saviour himself : "And I, if I be lifted up from 
the earth, will draw all men unto me.^^^ But 

1 Matt. xxii. 42. 2 john xii. 32. 



25 



the value of character is also strongly set forth. 
In the teaching of Christ himseK nothing re- 
ceives such reiterated injunction as the funda- 
mental necessity of sincere response to the voice 
of that divine law of well-being and well-doing 
in the highest sense, heard more or less clearly 
in every soul, and whose outward expression, 
as the Moral Law, He came to establish and 
fulfil. The unchangeable importance of this is 
shown throughout the Scripture in direct teach- 
ing and by parable and figure, to such an extent 
that it has been declared that, if the words of 
Jesus were classified according to their advocacy 
of character, dogma, and ceremony. His estimate 
of the relativ^e value of these would be shown 
by the fact that ^^ five hundred would be found 
for character, where there would be but ten for 
dogma or doctrine, and one for ceremony. ^^^ 
We know the scathing condemnation of those 
who acknowledged Him as Lord, but failed to 
observe His precepts. 

How, then, are we to bear ourselves loyally 
toward the Gospel, which in some aspects and 
with the highest authority seems to direct our 
attention mainly to the development of character 
by response to the teachings of Christ, aside 

1 The Churchman, 



26 

from that recognition of Him in His media- 
torial capacity, which in other aspects appears 
to be absolutely requisite for the enjoyment of 
the full Gospel blessing ? 

Is it not possible to find some standpoint with 
a broad outlook over the field of divine truth, 
from which we can see a larger meaning in His 
words, '' I am the Way, the Truth, and the 
Life ? " ^ Is there not some light of love in 
which we can reconcile the apparent inconsist- 
ency above referred to, and seeing their common 
relation to a higher truth, from which they flow, 
find that each truth has its right place and its 
harmonious relation in that eternal unity whose 
crowning result in Christ is still unfolding the 
purposes of divine love with an ever fuller and 
richer meaning ? 

If it is possible to find such a comprehensive 
view, it is certainly desirable to make the en- 
deavor in the interest of the Gospel itself ; for 
at present the attitude of the Church at large 
suggests the query at the head of this paper : 
'' Is the Gospel merely an addition to the law ? ^' 
No doubt the charge thus implied would be met 
by earnest denial ; but notwithstanding the in- 
tention (here freely acknowledged) of the loyalty 

1 John xiv. 6. 



27 



of the Church to the Gospel according to its ap- 
prehended purpose, it would be well to examine 
whether there is not ground for the charge im- 
plied in the above query. 



We are familiar with the best type of char- 
acter under the old Dispensation. We are also 
familiar with that which appears to be substan- 
tially the same, as shown in illustrious examples 
among the heathen nations— such characters as 
Confucius, Socrates, Aristides "the just,^^ and 
Marcus Aurelius. These men, no doubt, rep- 
resent the best results of natural religion, which 
we understand to be the life of God in the soul 
of man, resulting from his response to the voice 
of God speaking outwardly through the mani- 
festations of divine power and wisdom in the 
visible creation, and inwardly to the conscience 
by that ^' Light which lighteth every man that 
Cometh into the world. ^^^ 

The above is clearly distinguishable from that 
knowledge of God and its results in man which 
spring from the supernatural revelations of God^ 
or those manifestations which are apparently 

1 John i. 9. 



28 



contrary to and above the ordinary operation of 
natural law. 

Accordingly as the light of nature is regarded 
and obeyed, it ever has worked and ever will 
work some change in the natural man. This 
change may be but slight and confined simply 
to his sense of right and wrong; but, in propor- 
tion to its operation in the submissive will, 
there is produced some conformity to the divine 
will, and a desire, though perhaps only through 
the promptings of fear, to please an almighty 
but unknown God. 

We do not doubt that salvation was attained 
by many under the old Dispensation, reference 
being had to those below the rank of patriarch, 
king, or prophet. The narrative of the chosen 
people indicates that through much of its his- 
tory there was a small minority, often largely 
overborne by the carnal impulse of the faith- 
less multitude, but, on the other hand, frequently 
asserting itself with a more or less distinctly 
leavening influence upon the loyalty of the 
nation, helping to steady it in the path of Mono- 
theism, and in a truer knowledge of the pur- 
poses of the Lord. The existence of such a 
minority seems to be indicated by a fair infer- 
ence from the passage in 1 Kings, xix. 18, where 



29 

the prophet, discouraged by the spiritual dead- 
ness of his people, and believing that he alone 
was faithful, was assured by Him who knew 
all hearts, that there were in Israel ' seven thou- 
sand' honest-hearted supporters of the truth 
— witnesses who showed their loyalty to Him, 
in the important testimony of that time, by re- 
fusing to '' bow the knees to Baal/' 

An intelKgent view of the essential principle 
of salvation, dealing solely, as it must, with the 
attitude of the individual spirit toward the 
Father of Spirits, shows that fitness for salva- 
tion in some form marked the class above alluded 
to, as also the correspouding class represented 
by the heathen names already cited, with many 
others unknown throughout the centuries, who 
approximated them in moral condition. 

Fitness for salvation in some form, as indeed 
the foundation of fitness for salvation in any 
form, has ever been the result of the attitude 
of the will, joined with an honest and true 
heart, in watching and obeying the intimations 
of God's Spirit, the result upon the spiritual 
state being more in proportion to the faithful- 
ness to that which is apprehended to be right 
than to the degree of illumination to which the 
eyes are opened, valuable as this undoubtedly is. 



30 



The question then arises, — Why is it that a 
hope as to the spiritual future of the lives above 
referred to is entertained, while yet there is be- 
lieved to be in our system of theology no ground 
of a like hope for Unitarians whose lives are 
conspicuous in their influence for good, and 
who illustrate Christ-like virtues in a high de- 
gree ? The controlling difference, it would be 
answered, is that in the former case we are 
considering those who lived before the Gospel 
day, but, living in the light they had, must be 
judged only by it. Unitarians, however, deny 
that the Son of God has come in the flesh, and 
thus rejecting the purposes of love involved 
therein, commit the one sin of unbelief, which 
outweighs all merely moral worth; and therefore 
they cannot be viewed as heirs of salvation, wh ich 
can come only to those who believe in Christ. 
That is (to state it in another form), while there 
is no doubt that a certain condition of moral ex- 
cellence or quality of human spirit must have 
had its reasonable relation to the Father of 
Spirits, in a living union of some kind, if it 
existed prior to the coming of Christ in the 
flesh, yet for a similar state in the present day, 
or for one reflecting in even higher moral 
beauty the pure life of Christ^s teaching (but 



31 



by one unable to see Him as ^' God * * manifest 
in the flesh ^^)/ there is found in the Gospel 
not only no warrant for hope, but, on the other 
hand, ground for the belief that such lives are 
'^offensive to God/^ 

The conclusion from this seems unavoidable. 
If, with equal honesty of purpose and loyalty 
of heart toward God and the light of His 
spirit, the decision in the case just cited, as 
also in the case of the two representative indi- 
viduals introduced early in this paper, is made 
to turn solely upon the menial attitude toward 
the nature of Christ and the purpose of His 
coming in the flesh, ignoring all other and 
truer evidences of spiritual life, then is the 
Gospel surely transformed into an addition to 
the law. The Gospel invitation, ^^ Believe on 
the Lord Jesus Christ,^^^ instead of expressing 
the yearning of infinite love for the bestowal 
of a greater good, becomes the demand of another 
law — an addition to the Law of the old Dispen- 
sation, as rigid in its character and even more 
severe, since its non-fulfilment not only works 
the forfeiture of the salvation to which it in- 
vites, but even forbids the hope of such salva- 
tion as was possible before its operation. There 

1 1 Tim. iii. 16 2 Acts xvi. 31. 



32 



seems do escape from this conclusion, however 
much it perverts the intention of the Gospel as 
an expression of infinite grace. 



It should be here clearly stated and borne in 
mind that these considerations in regard to Uni- 
tarian thought refer always and only to an 
honest conviction regarding the nature of Christ. 
It refers not to those who, in the light of truth, 
will not, but to those who, in their present light, 
can not see Him as the Divine Son of God. I 
know there are those who assert that a thor- 
oughly honest position of this kind cannot be 
possible. They claim that in the fulness of the 
Gospel day any sincere following of the light 
must lead to a belief in Christ as God Incar- 
nate and to an acceptance of Him in His medi- 
atorial character, and that therefore the con- 
demnation of rejecting Him and of unfaithful- 
ness to the light must attach to those who regard 
Him only as a man, albeit the greatest and 
truest, and the anointed teacher and revealer of 
a divine life in humanity. 

Such a claim assumes an ability to judge 
of motive and rectitude of purpose which can- 
not be admitted, and with which there can be 



33 



no common ground of argument upon this sub- 
ject. The evidence of the life, which is the 
standard authorized by the Saviour, should ever 
have its due weight. We must believe that the 
influence of a Christ-like life could not be main- 
tained with a canker at the root of conviction 
on a subject so important. 



It has seemed to me, in reflecting upon the 
present subject, that there are two considerations 
which, taken together, suggest a truth of some 
importance — one that constitutes, as it were, a 
fixed point in the heavens of truth and valuable 
for guidance in the subject before us as is the 
pole star to the mariner. The conclusion to 
which these considerations jointly lead seems 
almost axiomatic in its clearness, and so con- 
trolling that it would appear as though all that 
is cognate thereto must be brought into harmony 
with it. Of these two thoughts, one is the un- 
changeableness of Heaven ; the other the essen- 
tially unchanged condition of the individual 
spirit, simply by its passage through physical 
death; and the conclusion to which these point 
is the necessity of viewing salvation as twofold, 

3 



34 

or under two aspects. These statements should 
be supported by further considerations. 

One important result of the growth of intel- 
ligent thought^ especially characteristic of recent 
years, is the tendency to recognize the control 
of law and the orderly procedure under it in 
all that pertains to life in every stage of its 
progress. Consequent upon this is the rejection 
of that idea of the divine government, according 
to which essential changes would be produced 
suddenly through the arbitrary exercise of crea- 
tive power. 

The best thought of the Church at large in the 
present day upon the subject of eschatology is 
in harmony with the general principle just re- 
ferred to, and denies the probability of a sudden 
and arbitrary change in the spiritual state at 
death. It is apparent that only by the harmony 
of the human will to some extent with the divine 
will can result that quality of spirit in man to 
which the atmosphere of heaven would in any 
degree be congenial ; while for its perfect enjoy- 
ment the love of God and a sense of sonship to 
Him in Christ must be the essential requirement. 
We can readily believe that, with a true view of 
the future state, there existed during the sim- 
plicity of Apostolic days no confusion as to the 



35 



only way in which it could be entered ; that, while 
of course a great change must be experienced in 
exchanging a physical for a disembodied exist- 
ence, yet this was not inconsistent with the fact 
that the real spiritual condition underwent no 
sudden magical transformation ; that, on the 
contrary, in all the deepest characteristics of 
its life, the spirit was unaffected by the transi- 
tion through death ; that, according to the degree 
of development to which the spiritual senses had 
attained in this life, the same essentially they 
emerged from the passage through the '' dark 
valley, ^^ and entered upon the purely spiritual 
existence, capable, then, no doubt (when free 
from the shackles of sense) of responding more 
fully to favorable environment. 

But when, to supplement the diminishing 
earnestness of the early faith, with its vivid 
hope incident to the outward circumstances 
with which the Gospel was introduced, human 
additions and perversions of the Gospel ap- 
peared, then mistaken ideas also appeared as 
to the nature of the change at death and the 
bestowal of the reward at the end of the race. 
The supposed power of excommunication was 
foremost in promoting this mistaken view. 
The form of belief respecting the character of 



36 

God must necessarily have been largely affected 
by the idea that He committed to even the best 
and holiest of human judgments the power of 
withholding and consequently of bestowing 
salvation. No theory of the exercise of such 
power as always being in accord with the divine 
mind could counteract the known frailty of 
human nature, or dispel the conviction that 
unworthy motives would often control its use. 
As the recognition of this power of excommu- 
nication became established in the Church at 
large, it naturally resulted in the establishment 
also of the thought that the change at death was 
not merely an orderly development determined 
by the condition in which death was approached, 
but that it was rather a new quality of spiritual 
life, miraculously implanted, with new attrac- 
tions and repulsions, resulting from an instant 
act of creative power on the part of the Almighty 
or His duly ordained ministers to whom such 
power was delegated. Untrue and unworthy 
conceptions of the divine nature could not fail to 
exist as a consequence of such views regarding 
the principles upon which the future state was 
determined. The thought that this should be 
dependent upon the arbitrary and capricious 
action either of God or His ministers would be 



37 

fatal to the idea of that majesty of action which 
must characterize the simplest intelligent thought 
respecting the Almighty. 

Although the influence of the doctrine of 
excommunication has long been steadily dimin- 
ishing, yet the belief in a sudden change at 
death which it promoted continues in one way 
or another to affect prevailing thought upon 
this subject. But the progressive knowledge 
of the truth, through the accumulating influ- 
ence of holy lives, with truer views of the 
divine government, is slowly but steadily cor- 
recting the error referred to. The conviction 
is being established that, according to the atti- 
tude of the will and the affections in which death 
is approached, such will be the corresponding 
condition in which the soul will enter the dis- 
embodied state ; that if at death there is no 
desire for holiness in itself, aside from its prom- 
ised reward, or no love for Christ, none will be 
implanted simply by passing through physical 
death. 

It would seem almost superfluous to advance 
anything in support of the truth of the un- 
changeableness of heaven. Of all forms of the 
infinite that present themselves to the human 
mind, heaven is probably regarded as the most 



38 



truly unchangeable. Yet there is much in cur- 
rent religious literature implying the thought 
that the conditions of entrance to heaven (I use 
these words in preference to the word ^^ Salva- 
tion/^ for reasons that will appear) are different 
now from what they were prior to the advent 
of the Gospel. But we cannot think of heaven 
as unchangeable and at the same time as having 
changeable conditions of entrance. This would 
be utterly inconsistent with any reasonable con- 
ception of the divine will, which is the atmos- 
phere of heaven. 

The relation held to the future life by any 
particular condition of the human spirit must 
ever have been and must always be the same 
under whatever Dispensation it may have oc- 
curred. The existence of spiritual life in man 
depends upon his response to the illuminating 
influence of the Holy Spirit. The measure of 
this life is in proportion to the sincerity with 
which the divine government is welcomed. 
Upon this must depend the degree of harmony 
with God, and consequently the ability to enjoy 
His presence in the disembodied state. But the 
quality of this spiritual life will be largely 
affected by the degree of illumination known, 
and the intelligent apprehension of the divine 



39 



purpose for man, as it is revealed in the coming 
of Christ, the Son of God. While a distinct 
quality is thus added to the spiritual life, yet 
it is true that that of which it is a possible 
result, and which must be the foundation of 
all spiritual life, is simply the desire to be con- 
formed to the divine will. It is the '' hunger 
and thirst after righteousness^^ ; and this is not 
necessarily dependent upon the amount of light 
experienced, at least as regards some develop- 
ment of the spiritual life. Any other conclu- 
sion would involve the supposition of arbitrary 
and unreasonable procedure in God's dealings 
with man, and would introduce hurtful con- 
fusion into our thoughts of the divine natm'e 
and government. 

Therefore, while we rightly believe that the 
value of the blessing brought by the Gospel 
cannot he overestimated, yet it would appear 
that this blessing must operate in some other 
way than such as would tend to obscure " the 
old landmarks of morality ^^^ or to confuse the 
simple but eternal relations held by the soul to 
its Creator. 

How, then, with heaven unchangeable, and 
no change of spiritual state at death, can we 

1 Frederick W. Robertson. 



40 

reconcile salvation in pre-Gospel days with the 
conditions of salvation required by the Gospel 
as now stated ? It has been a standing diffi- 
culty with the Church, in justifying its demand 
for a knowledge of Christ, to present such a 
view of the nature and ground of salvation as 
shall not conflict with a reasonable view of the 
relation to a future life, held by godly lives in 
every age of the world and under all circum- 
stances. Knowledge of Christ and a belief in 
Him as the Divine Son of God, and in His 
atonement for sin, being held essential for 
salvation, recourse is had to the supposition, as 
regards the faithful in pre-Gospel days, that 
God, by an arbitrary act and for the sake of 
Christ, added to their spiritual state that quality 
which would have been developed in them had 
they lived when Christ in the flesh could have 
been seen and accepted, and thus they were 
prepared for salvation. On the other hand, 
for those living in the light of the Gospel, but 
blind to the light of its central truth, there 
seems, as has been already stated, no ground 
for a hopeful view consistent with the orthodox 
statement of Gospel truth ; and they are there- 
fore left to " the uncovenanted mercies of God," 
But a true view of such a scheme for the redemp- 



41 



tion of the human race as is worthy of being 
an expression of infinite love and wisdom, and 
declared to be ^^ Glad Tidings/' should not 
thus shock the simplest suggestions of reverent 
thought. On the contrary, it should be intelli- 
gently comprehensive in its character, and at 
the same time be free from the confusion and 
inconsistency involved in the supposed need of 
miraculous action on the part of the Almighty 
to change or add to any spiritual state at death, 
to prepare it for heaven. 

I believe there is relief from this difficulty 
and from much confusion of thought on this 
important subject in the suggestion previously 
made, that salvation should be regarded under 
two aspects or as twofold in its nature. Viewed 
in this light, the simpler aspect of salvation 
would appear to be the salvation of Natural 
Religion, or the salvation of the Law, as an 
experience of the future life. The other would 
be the Gospel salvation, an experience for the 
present life as well as for the future. The former 
is attainable now as in the past without a knowl- 
edge of the outward coming of Christ, or not- 
withstanding an inability to see Him as God 
manifest in the flesh, provided that with such 
disbelief the life is moulded, in good measure, 



42 



according to the divine pattern. The latter 
salvation is experienced only by adding to such 
obedience a belief in Christ, according to the 
accepted evangelical view; seeing Him as the 
incarnate manifestation of the Father and the 
'' Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of 
the world. ''^ 

* * * 

The truth of the principles underlying this 
twofold view of salvation can be asserted only 
in the way of a broad generalization. The evi- 
dence in some individual lives, which appears 
to militate against the truth of the main posi- 
tion taken in this book, will subsequently re- 
ceive further consideration. It may, however, 
be here stated that such evidence is largely ex- 
plained by the uncertainty which must some- 
times attend the effort to connect spiritual cause 
and effect. The effect upon the mental attitude 
wrought by the complex influences of heredity 
and environment may be such as to obscure the 
evangelical truth to whose operation has been 
really due the character of some spiritual lives 
apparently resulting from Unitarian thought. 
But as we endeavor to look beyond and above 

1 John ii. 29. 



43 



the superficial and immediate, we shall be able 
to discern the broad trend of principles of the 
spiritual kingdom which are primary and basic 
in their character. 

Some further considerations will be presented 
intended to support the probability of the truth 
of the distinction between salvation in a future 
state, as distinctively the continuity and devel- 
opment of an imperfect spiritual life begun here; 
and the Gospel salvation as an exalted experience 
for this life — a result commensurate with the 
value of the offering by which it was obtained. 
Both the oneness and the difference of these two 
forms of salvation will be examined. 

We are assured of the unity of all truth. 
Our approach to that unity must be in propor- 
tion as our apprehension of the different mani- 
festations of truth is harmonious. This har- 
mony of view should also characterize our 
deepest thought on the subject of salvation. 
Hence the support given to the twofold aspect 
of salvation by the following considerations 
will be in proportion to the harmonizing light 
thereby thrown upon our thought respecting 
the two spiritual realities with which salvation 
is so closely concerned. One of these is Free 
Grace or Infinite Love in action for the re- 



44 



demption and happiness of man, apart from 
considerations of antecedent merit. The other 
is perfect Holiness, or the moral character of 
God, which by its very nature must be un- 
changeable and unyielding in its demand for 
conformity to the Moral Law. As '' the deep 
things of God are revealed to us by His spirit '^^ 
in regard to this important subject, we shall 
see, instead of confusion, the harmony of the 
divine order ; and to the ancient query through 
the prophet^ ^^Are not my ways equaP^ (or 
just), ^^saiththe Lord,'^^ we can join in the 
acknowledgment ^^of Moses, the servant of 
God,^^ " Just and true are thy ways, thou King 
of saints. ^^^ 

Hi * * 

The nature or character of the Most High 
may be regarded mainly under the aspects of 
love and of holiness. We know that '^ God is 
Love.^^* We know also that His nature is one 
of holiness or the perfection of moral quality. 
There are other attributes, such as omniscience 
and omnipotence, with which we are not now 
concerned to treat ; but when we are called to 
be " partakers of the divine nature ^^ ^ as an ex- 

1 1 Cor. ii. 10. 2 Ezek. xviii. 29. 

3 Rev. XV. 3. 4 1 John iv. 8. 

6 2 Peter i. 4, 



45 

perience of this present life, we feel that there 
are two characteristics of that nature, which, 
as God's offspring, we are invited to share, and 
these are love and holiness, or righteousness, 
which is the human reflection of divine holi- 
ness. 

However close may be the connection between 
love and righteousness in their higher develop- 
ments, they are certainly not identical. They 
are not convertible terms. While we cannot 
conceive of the existence of any degree of love 
for God without a corresponding obedience or 
righteousness, yet the reverse is not the case. 
There may be a degree of righteousness with- 
out a corresponding degree of love, though, of 
course, it would not be that highest form of 
righteousness which is ^^made perfect (only) 
in love."^ There is abundant evidence of 
this. In every Christian community there are 
God-fearing men whose lives testify to their de- 
sire to be conformed to the divine will. The 
government of Christ is more or less manifested 
by them ; but their realization of the love of 
God does not appear to be a correspondingly 
distinct experience. They acknowledge the obli- 
gation to love God, and they desire to do so ; 

1 1 John iv. 18. 



46 

and no doubt they often enjoy the peace which 
attends right-doing from a sincere heart. This 
has its own reward^ but it falls short of and 
should not be mistaken for that ^' higher life^^ 
in which the soul's filial relation to the Most 
High is seen in the light of the cross^ not 
merely as the declaration of a truth^ but as 
a sonship to be consciously entered into — '^ the 
fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ. ^'^ 

There can be no doubt that the distinction 
above outlined is applicable in a general way 
to the Church at large^ dividing into two classes 
all who are its living members. 

I am well aware that no one can see with the 
eyes of others or know their conception of the 
unseen God. No human judgment can weigh 
correctly the value to another of that soul's rela- 
tion to God; and, therefore, as respects any 
individual case in either of these classes, such 
judgment may be greatly at fault. Yet con- 
sidering the light shed by many who would, by 
common consent, be considered as followers of 
Christ, and placing a fair estimate upon their 
witness to the influence of things ^* unseen and 
eternal,'' there appears to be no doubt that of 
the two classes referred to much the larger class 

1 Rom. XV. 29. 



47 



consists of those who have not entered into the 
more vital relation of the soul to God, offered 
in Christ, with its uplifting: of the life into an 
abiding sense of the divine love. Their accept- 
ance of Christ is unreserved as to intention, and 
the statement of their faith is according to the 
orthodox standard. This is, however, largely 
the assent of the mind to certain doctrines re- 
garding Christ, His nature, the purpose of His 
coming, and its relation to those who believe in 
Him. It means to them mainly the results in 
a future life of a trust in God's mercy through 
the efficacy of Christ's atoning work imputed to 
them and perfecting their own imperfect faith- 
fulness. 

An intelligent idea of the intended results of 
the Gospel as declared in Scripture, as well as 
the practical illustration of these results by 
many, forbids the belief that the relation to 
Him in this life, which our Saviour intended 
for all His disciples, is manifested by the larger 
portion of professing Christians. In this state- 
ment I refer not merely to the shortcomings 
and weaknesses attending human nature in its 
attempted realization of the Gospel life, but to 
the inadequate Gonception of what the Gospel 
ideal really is. 



48 

Yet this spiritual state, with its inadequate 
conception of the Gospel ideal, characterizes the 
larger portion of those who constitute the " body 
of Christ^^' on earth. Much testimony, both 
from old and new Scripture, and the intelli- 
gent opinion of the world, regenerate and unre- 
generate, justify the belief that such are alive in 
Christ, and forbid the thought that they will 
be rejected at the last day and their spiritual 
life, real, though imperfect, be cut off. Sad in- 
deed would be the thought that tlie contrary 
could be the case, through failure to meet a de- 
mand made by God for love to Him propor- 
tionate to the intended blessing of the Gospel. 
Our knowledge of even a human love rejects 
such a thought, much more that which could 
be reasonably thought of as infinite love dealing 
with its finite child ! 

If, therefore, it be true, as I think we are 
justified in believing, that in the spiritual state 
just described those whose faithfulness meets a 
required degree known only to the Almighty^ 

1 1 Cor. xii. 27. 

2 The degree of ethical attainment which marks the dividing- 
line between spiritual life and death, and is therefore requisite 
to salvation in. its simplest form, it is not possible for human 
knowledge to determine closely. We can, however, understand 
the general character of spirit requisite to salvation ; we can also 
understand the nature of the test which would determine such 



49 



will enter into future life, it must be because 
their union with Christ in this life is a union 
with the divine life in its quality or nature of 
righteousness rather than of love ; a union real, 
though less exalted, than that which the Gospel 
contemplates ; one in which the greatest blessing 
must await development in the future state 
rather than enriching the present life according 
to the divine intention, and energizing its 
highest powers in service for Christ. 

In view of the above it may be asked. Is the 
spiritual state referred to as characterizing so 
large a portion of the Church of Christ really 
anything * more than a Gospel morality ? Is it 
not simply the righteousness of the moral law 
elevated and illumined by the pure light of 
Christ's teachings ? 

The '^ resurrection life '^ in Christ is declared 
in Scripture to be a transformation or ^^ a new- 
ness of life,^'^ a being ^^made perfect in love/'^ 
being '^ buried with Him by baptism into 



character. This has "been well expressed by John McLeod Camp- 
bell in Thoughts on Revelation, page 67: ''When it is said, 
' Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have vp'e confidence 
tovrard God' (1 John iii. 21), this is not to be understood as im- 
plying the conscious attainment of the ideal set before us, but 
only the conscious acceptance of that ideal, and that the divine 
choice for us has become our choice for ourselves." 
1 Rom. vi. 4. 2 1 John iv. 18. 



50 



death/^^ and rising thence with Him as ^^fel- 
low-citizens with the saints^ and of the house- 
hold of God. '^^ As a result of this, worldly in- 
terests, with their attractions and repulsions, are 
controlled by love to God and whatever will 
promote His kingdom rather than by the re- 
straints and authority of the moral law, whether 
expressed in the Ten Commandments or in the 
exalted precepts added thereto by Christ. It is 
true that a '^ newness of life ^^ will characterize 
to some extent all who turn to the Lord with 
honest purpose of heart. There are, however, 
added tests, as given above, of the realized Gospel 
life. Can we regard these tests as met by persons 
whose relation to the highest Gospel truth (i.6., 
the Deity and Atonement of Christ), due in many 
cases to educational and fortuitous circumstances, 
is but little more than non-denial or merely men- 
tal assent to that truth ? 

Assuming this to be answered in the nega- 
tive, the question then arises as to the extent 
and real character of the difference between the 
spiritual state of this large class in every ortho- 
dox communion and those not regarded within 
the pale of Orthodoxy, who, while not accept- 
ing Christ's Deity and the need of His Atone- 

1 Rom. vi. 4. 2 Eph. ii. 19. 



51 



ment, equally accept the need of the government 
of His spirit in the life. Is the difference be- 
tween these classes vital, and therefore one con- 
trolling the future state f 

In the case of the Unitarian, there is the in- 
ability (assumed to be sincere) to believe in the 
Deity of Christ and in certain truths flowing 
therefrom. In the other, the belief in these is 
mainly a mental assent, adding, as already 
stated, but little quickening influence to the 
life. It is so little more than non-denial as 
to result in no added and distinct testimony to 
the reality of the higher life in Christ, and in 
the eyes of the world is almost indistinguish- 
able from the spiritual state of many who make 
no public profession of religion. Its testimony 
to Christ, through submission to His precepts, 
may perhaps be less than is borne by some who 
accept Him only as an exalted teacher. 

Thus it becomes an important question 
whether character alone controls the divine 
judgment upon the spiritual life, or the addi- 
tion to character of a mental attitude toward 
Christ which, however, fails to give its special 
impress to such character. In other words, is 
belief in Christ's Deity and Atonement, purely 
as a mental assent and aside from its results, 



52 



pleasing to God ? Mast we not rather con- 
clude that it is acceptable to Him just in pro- 
portion to its influence upon the character, ful- 
filling its purpose only when it results in a 
conscious sonship to Himself? 

It seems to me that a thoughtful gaze into 
the limitless depths of the starry heavens, and 
any approach thereby suggested to an intelli- 
gent conception of the Infinite and its awful 
reality, forbids the thought that anything less 
real than absolute moral distinctions could in 
the least degree affect the final destiny of an 
immortal soul. On the contrary, the conviction 
is enforced that now in the Gospel day, as ever 
in the past, the only essential condition for the 
origin here and the continuance beyond the 
grave of the spiritual life in man must be his 
participation in that spiritual reality which is 
union with the divine life, through loyal accept- 
ance of the will of God revealed by His Holy 
Spirit in the soul. If so, then it is not incon- 
sistent with a full acknowledgment of the bene- 
fits which the Gospel faith alone can produce, 
to claim that character or Christ-likeness rather 
than ^^ belief^' is the first and broad condition 
of salvation in its simpler form. But while 
this truth cannot be set aside or superseded in 



53 

any way, yet it is equally true that only by the 
spiritual apprehension of the Gospel, as evan- 
gelically viewed, can there be an entrance into 
that relation to God now in this life for which 
the soul of man is formed. 



It has been said that in ^^ character is sal- 
vation, and therefore heaven/^ There is un- 
doubtedly a growing tendency in the thought 
of the Church at large to accept this statement, 
as expressing in condensed form the truth re- 
specting the great fact central in all religious 
interest, the salvation of man. Yet it can but 
slowly dislodge the largely prevailing idea, so 
much opposed to it, which thinks of heaven as 
an experience of the future only and as another 
scene of action. This idea has been strength- 
ened, and confusion has been introduced to the 
injury of the influence of the Gospel, through 
the habit of thinking of it (the Gospel) as the 
divinely appointed agency for man^s salvation 
and happiness in the next world rather than in 
the present one. The light of mercy and of 
love that shines in the Gospel is viewed as a 
warrant for the hope that at death there will 
be obtained the blessed results of present trust 



54 



in Christ, through the sudden transformation 
of the spiritual life and its preparation thus 
for enjoying a form of happiness which was an 
unknown experience in the life on earth. This 
is a misapprehension of the Gospel purpose. 
We know not what agencies may exist in the 
unseen world, or what helpful ministries may 
meet all who enter it if they be animated truly 
though imperfectly by the divine life, in what- 
ever way that life may have been received. We 
do know, however, that here on this earth 
occurred the ^^fall of man,'^ and it seems emi- 
nently fitting that here the divinely appointed 
agency for the fulfilment of the promise of re- 
demption should find its true sphere of opera- 
tion. It is from man in his present state that 
the ^^ curse ^^ is to be lifted in its most impor- 
tant features, if not as to all its remote conse- 
quences. It is in the flesh, despite its trials 
and temptations, that the alienation through sin 
is to be changed to the love of sonship ; not 
merely in the spirit after its separation from 
the results of sin. Therefore, whatever bless- 
ing may be ministered hereafter by the Gospel, 
in ways that we cannot know, yet the divine 
purpose for man as man will be accomplished 
in proportion as it is realized that the present 



65 



life is the Important field of action for the 
Gospel, and that its salvation should be expe- 
rienced here and now.^ 



If we will rise high enough in the light of 
life to obtain a broad view of the kingdom of 
God, while there will be, in its mysteries 
of justice and mercy, abundant need for the 
exercise of faith and submission in respect to 
all that is unrevealed, yet we shall be able to 
discern the harmony of much that had seemed 
inconsistent. Apparent diversity will be seen 
as unity in higher operation, bringing all into 
harmony with one pervading purpose. 

Much divine truth of deep interest in man^s 
relation to God must be interpreted on its 
earthward side, in a partial and narrow sense, 
according to the limitations of a partially de- 
veloped spiritual perception with which it must 
largely deal. But the same truth on its heaven- 
ward side has its broad outlook and compre- 



1 This view of man's need of a Saviour is independent, it seems 
to me, of any views upon the subject of ''original sin," "total de- 
pravity," and the " fall of man." It relates solely to man's present 
condition, however reached— a condition in which, by his natu- 
ral state, he is ** alienated from the life of God" (Eph. iv. 18) by 
the conscious non-fulfilment of the Divine law. 



56 

hensive teaching in harmony with the counsels 
of eternal love. Only in this higher light of 
divine love and by that knowledge of the 
Father to which Christ is ^^ the Way/^ can we 
understand much that is of the deepest interest 
in the dealings of God with His chosen people 
recorded in the Old Testament, or can rightly 
interpret many of the words of our Saviour 
and apprehend their revelations of those prin- 
ciples of life which relate to man and his sal- 
vation. 

The relation of the truth to conduct is one of 
entire simplicity. The path of holy living is 
plain and the voice of the Spirit is distinctly 
heard therein ; but as we pass from the consid- 
eration of that which pertains simply to conduct 
and enter the region of reverent thought upon 
the divine nature in its relation to man, we 
find that a twofold view attaches to the deeper 
aspects of much spiritual truth closely associated 
with the subject of salvation. 

Thus, the ^^ anger of God^^ is often referred 
to in the Old, and occasionally, though less 
directly, in the New Testament. Sometimes 
it is declared by the leaders of Israel or by the 
prophets to be the disposition of God toward 
His people or toward certain ones among them. 



5T 

The fearful and visible realities of tliunder and 
lightning which accompanied the giving of the 
law could not but promote the belief that wilful 
and repeated infractions of that law would pro- 
duce anger in Him who commanded it. Such 
a belief as to the nature of the Most High was 
in harmony with that also which was suggested 
by His dealings with them in various ways so 
nearly on a level with their human nature. 
This course was required at that time in order 
to impress their moral consciousness and to pro- 
mote tlie development of a true knowledge of 
Him. 

Very similar is the experience of the indi- 
vidual spirit. In the earlier stages of the 
knowledge of God the soul, under a sense of 
estrangement caused by sin, sees in Him only 
an offended lawgiver and judge, whose anger 
is justly aroused ; but in the light of fuller 
knowledge the real truth is seen to be far dif- 
ferent. As the spiritual senses are developed 
through obedience to the Holy Spirit and in 
the light of the cross, the thought of God as 
angry toward nations or men appears to be 
both untrue and unworthy of Him who is in- 
finite love. Belief in His anger is seen to be 
the result of a human interpretation of the re- 



58 

lation between the sinner and God. Conscious 
alienation imputes to God that disposition which 
exists only in itself. " With the pure Thou 
wilt show thyself pure, and with the forward 
Thou wilt show thyself unsavory. ^^^ 

The connection between the finite spirit and 
the infinite source of life may perhaps be not 
inaptly illustrated by a chain in its succession 
of links. At its finite end the chain must ex- 
press the divine truth, of which it is composed, 
in terms that are apprehensible by the ordinary 
human mind. But as the teachable human 
spirit rises toward the higher and the infinite 
by progressive links or stages in experimental 
knowledge, it is gradually transformed and 
filled, according to its capacity, with '' all the 
fulness of God.^^^ While the one divine pur- 
pose of love animates alike the entire relation, 
yet this is apprehended by individuals differ- 
ently, according to their several spiritual states. 

This dual aspect of much important truth 
springs necessarily from the fact of man^s two- 
fold nature, since its finite limitations are joined 
to latent possibilities responsive to the inspira- 
tion of the infinite life from which he springs. 



I 2 Sam. xxii. 27, 2 Eph. iii. 19. 



59 

There is manifestly a growing tendency in 
the Church at large to broaden its view of the 
Holy Spirit^ s work through the ages and of 
God^s relation to the soul of man. With this 
expanding thought comes a truer idea o£ the 
relation of all religions to the religion o£ Christ 
— one that fully recognizes the wide difference 
that exists between these, yet asserts the real con- 
nection of all ethical aspiration and attainment 
that have ever existed. All have resulted from 
the influence of the one Eternal Spirit operating 
in the heart of man. All forms and systems 
of natural religion have been the resultants of 
this voice of Christ^s spirit with man's per- 
verted and imperfect apprehension of it and 
his carnal imagination of the unseen and 
almighty power surrounding him. 

With this broader thought of the ever- 
existent and universal fatherhood of God and 
the operation of the spirit of Christ in recep- 
tive hearts there should be joined a correspond- 
ingly broad conception of the nature and con- 
ditions of salvation — one that embraces possi- 
bilities of future life in harmony with such a 
view and with the laws controlling, as we be- 
lieve, the spiritual kingdom. 

But this broader view is defensible only 



60 



when, consistently therewith, the Gospel salva- 
tion is seen to be the only complete salvation, 
confined unavoidably by the limitations of its 
nature to those who enter into the conditions 
of its enjoyment. 



Only since the Incarnation has there been 
possible a thought of God other than of an 
infinite, self-existent, unconditioned being. 
Only since then can He be thought of in asso- 
ciation with characteristics of our human nature. 
But the form of the thought of God is much 
less important than the attitude of heart and 
allegiance to the divine will. This allegiance 
being essentially to one will, it must practically 
be the same in character, whether it be in 
thought directed toward the Father or the Son. 
Honest, earnest dealing with God by the indi- 
vidual spirit is the first requisite. Where this 
exists, whether the divine nature be thought of 
as unconditioned God-head or as the '^ Word 
made flesh,^^^ if in either case it is an influence 
impressing the character with the likeness of 
Christ, the life so exercised is surely in the 
way of divine blessing and of eternal life. The 

1 John i. 14. 



61 



quality and fulness of such life, however, must 
depend, as already stated, on the completeness 
with which the divine purpose in Christ's in- 
carnation and atonement is spiritually appre- 
hended. 



In the life of faith to which the Gospel in- 
vites there must be two distinct elements if it 
proves to be a life of conscious fellowship with 
Christ. One element results from the appro- 
priation, through penitential faith, of the benefit 
of Christ's atonement, and a belief that in the 
mercy of God thus revealed past sin is for- 
given. The other element is the consciousness 
of honest effort faithfully to follow the will of 
Christ revealed in the secret of the soul. The 
Church recognizes this, and enjoins faithfulness 
to Christ within, as well as faith in His atoning 
death. There is reason to believe, however, as 
previously stated, that with the great majority 
of professing Christians conscious fellowship 
with Christ is not a characteristic of their life, 
while still they may fairly be considered as His 
followers. 

The Church, however, makes no distinction 
between the ^^regenerated'' and the ^^con- 
verted" other than that of varying degrees 



62 

of the same spiritual state. It looks upon both 
classes as alive in Christ by faith and members 
of His mystical body (the Church) by baptism. 
It, therefore, encourages in them alike the 
belief that, if they continue to lead lives morally 
blameless, they may with confidence trust in 
the atoning work of Christ for salvation in a 
future life. 

Upon what ground does the Church rest a 
hope regarding those '^ converted ^^ but not 
^^ regenerated,^^ which it feels compelled to 
withhold from Unitarians of equal moral 
standing ? We know it is because of a belief 
by the former in the Deity and Atonement of 
Christ, though in a form or degree which is 
but little more really than the non-denial of 
Him. 

An intelligent judgment of the value of the 
distinction thus drawn involves some considera- 
tion of the subject of pardon through Christ. 

This important truth has both its relative 
and absolute aspects — i.6., its man ward or 
finite and its Godward or infinite views. As 
regards absolute truth, I believe that uncondi- 
tional pardon of all mankind was revealed as an 
accomplished fact through the offering of Christ 
upon the cross. This has been well expressed as 



63 



'^ the exhibition and demonstration in Time of 
that disposition of the Father and His love to 
man, which had eternally existed. ^^^ 

But the relative truth regarding pardon — that 
is, its aspect on the manward side — is of much 
the more importance practically, as this is the 
view that generally prevails. In this view par- 
don is believed to be granted at the moment 
when the repentant and trusting sinner pleads 
for mercy because of Christ's atoning death. 
The contrast between the earlier conscious 
alienation from God and the present peace of 
reconciliation is so deep and vital that in the 
repentant sinner's experience nothing is more 
true than that God's anger which had rested 
against him is now replaced by the smile of a 
Father's love. To this constructive truth of 
priceless value the seal of countless thousands 
is set. The uplifting hope of salvation, with 
the love to Christ thus resulting, has been the 
powerful motive for faithful, self-denying ser- 
vice to Him and His cause; and in this con- 
scious union with God through Christ pardon 
has proved to be salvation and the Gospel pur- 



1 The evidence in these pages must be apparent, that this abso- 
lute view of pardon is not regarded by me as in anywise support- 
ing the doctrine of " universal salvation." 



64 



pose has i3een accomplished. Thus it is that 
pardon and salvation are generally thought of 
as convertible terms. Evangelical literature 
encourages this view ; it claims that the expe- 
rience just alluded to is the only true conver- 
sion. It takes no notice of the absolute view 
of pardon. On the contrary, it seeks to mag- 
nify the mercy of God and the self-sacrificing 
love of Christ by dwelling upon God^s pre- 
vious anger toward the unrepentant sinner. 

If the follower of Christ conceives of salvation 
as righteousness, and so desires it because of the 
resulting deliverance from sin and consequent 
union with God in this life, then a belief in the 
Deity and Atonement of Christ will greatly pro- 
mote in him the fulfilment of the promise of 
Christ: ^^ Blessed are they which do hunger and 
thirst after righteousness, for they shall be 
filled."^ 

But if salvation is thought of simply as 
safety, and an entrance at death upon a state 
of happiness entirely unknown in this life, and 
if the hope of this rests upon some supposed 
mystical application of the blood of Christ in 
securing a lenient judgment upon a life of self- 
indulgence and of non-resistance to the spirit of 

1 Matt. V. 6. 



65 



the world, then the absolute truth regarding 
pardon through Christ becomes of much im- 
portance. 

While the consciousness of pardon may be 
equivalent to salvation, as already stated, and 
doubtless is so in the case of many, yet in and 
by itself pardon is valueless apart from its 
consequences in the recipient and through his 
co-operation. The blotting out of iniquities 
from a life ethically unchanged and unstimu- 
lated thereby can avail nothing ; but when, 
with the removal of past transgressions, '^ as 
far as the East is from the West,^^^ both in 
the sight of divine justice and from the con- 
science of the penitent, there is the impulse of 
a newborn life filled with hope and Christ's 
own ^^ peace,'' then fresh strength is known 
against the power of sin and the influence of 
the spirit of the world ; and if faithfulness is 
maintained, there is a deepening in the root of 
life, and a growth in the likeness of Christ and 
consequent fellowship with Him, which create 
here on earth the joy of heaven, so far as is 
possible under the limitations of the flesh. 

With many, probably with most, there may 
not be that sharply defined transition which is 

1 Ps. ciii. 12. 
5 



66 



experienced by the high-handed sinner arrested 
in his evil ways, humbled under conviction, 
and brought to the foot of the cross in peni- 
tence; but the light entered into may be as 
true. With the former it is simply the con- 
sciousness of a sincere heart toward God, the 
contrite acceptance of the daily cross and the 
honest endeavor to follow Christ in the 
^^ straight and narrow way/' of life. Such a 
state has realized its own weakness and its 
inability of itself to keep those divine require- 
ments whose rightness and value are fully 
accepted ; yet as it has prayerfully sought to 
dwell in the light of Christ and in the obedi- 
ence of faith, it has become tenderly sensible of 
the divine mercy. It, therefore, accepts as a 
little child the pardon extended in Christ, seeing 
in it the evidence of a compassionate fatherhood 
in which it can trust with a childlike faith and 
enjoy a comforting sense of divine love and 
nearness, every effort of filial devotion being 
stimulated thereby. 

Where this experience is not in some meas- 
ure known by the Trinitarian, I do not see 
how it can be urged that pardon has in such 
cases produced its intended result or that he 
has experienced the Gospel salvation. His 



67 

vital relaiion to God and to a future life, what- 
ever his own belief concerning it, must be 
measured by the extent of his ethical har- 
mony with God. On this basis, as pardon (in 
the absolute view) exists for all, it would appear 
that in the divine sight there could be no real 
difference between the Unitarian, by whom par- 
don is not discerned, and the Trinitarian, in 
whom it has not had its intended influence. 
Their relation to salvation hereafter would be 
really the same, provided they are equally faith- 
ful in their following of Christ. 

I have dwelt at some length upon the subject 
of pardon, believing that, in addition to its inti- 
mate connection with salvation, the thought in 
regard to it has a close bearing upon the life of 
holiness. It is not, perhaps, too much to say 
that pardon for past sin is the central idea in 
the conception of salvation generally held by 
professing Christians. The anxiety for safety 
from the results of transgression has, we know, 
been largely used in the past by the Church for 
unworthy ends, through its supposed control 
of the way of life, resulting in a form of reli- 
gion that came to be a fearful travesty upon 
the moral government of God. Although this 
has mainly disappeared, yet the tendency of 



68 

human nature in which it originated still exerts 
some influence, and may encourage almost un- 
consciously the hope of safety through pardon 
rather than through deliverance from the power 
of temptation under the sanctifying influence 
of the daily cross. My belief is firm that 
entrance into the Gospel salvation is possible 
only in accordance with evangelical view on 
that subject ; but I am also convinced that the 
spiritual life thus resulting, to which the sense 
of pardon for sin is the intended introduction, 
is most Christ-like in those who feel the impor- 
tance of obedience per se and not only as a valu- 
able result of regeneration. 

^' Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are 
of.^'^ These words of Him who ^^knew what 
was in man ^^^ have not lost their significance. 
Addressed originally to those disciples who were 
so near to Him, they suggest to His disciples 
ever since the need of watchfulness against the 
complexity and subtlety of selfish motives and 
the almost unconscious deception of the human 
heart. The impulse of love, begotten with the 
joy of pardoned sin, may continue as a vital 
force to correct these tendencies of our nature 
and mould the character to Christ-likeness. 

1 Luke ix. 55, 3 John ii. 25. 



69 



With some it does so continue; with others, 
however, it does not. The love grows cool 
under contact with the spirit of the world. By- 
familiarity with the consciousness of pardon, the 
spring of the motive it furnished is gradually 
weakened and the life is in danger of drifting 
into a profession lacking the bracing support 
and moral tone which come only through the 
continued subjection of the individual will to 
the divine will. 

There is abundant evidence that, according 
to the law of the spiritual life, moral discipline 
reacts as a help and stimulus to love for Christ. 
This reciprocal relation of love and obedience 
is clearly recognized by our Saviour when He 
says not only ^^ If a man love me, he will keep 
my words,^^^ but also, ^^ If ye keep my com- 
mandments, ye shall abide in my love. "^ 

I have tender sympathy with that preaching 
of the cross which, to the penitent sinner, is 
primarily the offer of pardon through the 
mercy of God in Christ ; and I rejoice in the 
abundant evidence of blessing upon the simplest 
forms of this hallowed service. Such blessing, 
however, may be diminished when the efficacy 
of Christ's atonement and a saving faith in 

1 John xiv. 23. 8 John xv. 10. 



70 

Him are so presented as to depreciate (although 
unintentionally) the value of a tender con- 
science, which, consciously in the light of the 
cross, becomes the tender heart, the promised 
'^ new heart/'^ the '' contrite and humble 
spirit/^^ declared by the '' high and lofty one '^^ 
Himself to be in-dwelt by Him who ^' inhabit- 
eth eternity.'*^ Surpassing mystery of that life 
which is infinite love ! Impenetrable to the high- 
est culture which is purely mental, and a stum- 
bling-block to the mere formalist, but to those 
in the child-like nature of obedience and love 
it is simply Christ and His cross, '^ the power 
of God and the wisdom of God.^'^ 



It is evident that throughout these pages 
spiritual life and salvation are treated as being 
almost convertible terms. To this position 
there would probably be but little dissent if, 
with the thought of spiritual life, were joined 
the limitations regarding it, upon which evan- 
gelical teaching would insist. But the con- 
tention here urged is against such limitation, 
provided, however, that the dual view of salva- 
tion is accepted, and with the reasonable assump- 

1 Ezek. xviii. 31. 2 is. lyii. 15. 3 1 cor. i. 24. 



71 



tion, also, that the spiritual life is faithfully 
maintained. 

No doubt, texts of Scripture could be ad- 
vanced in opposition to this broad view of 
salvation. But while I believe that more 
could be found in its support (notably 
^^God who is the Saviour of all men, specially 
of those that believe'^),^ I have not felt disposed 
to rely upon them to any great extent, preferring 
to depend chiefly upon what seems to be the 
teaching of Scripture in its entirety on the 
subject, especially found in the words of our 
Saviour himself. 

Truth is many sided, and opposing views 
regarding some portions of it can, as we know, 
be sustained by Scripture. Much depends upon 
whether the texts so advanced apply rather to 
partial and relative or to absolute views upon 
any point. While this statement has a wide 
application, it applies with particular force to 
the subject of ^^ spiritual life ^^— a term which 
we find used in Scripture with a very inclusive 
meaning. It is used in the New Testament, 
especially by the Apostle Paul, where it mani- 
festly means conscious sonship to the Father 
through Christ; and some passages justify the 

1 1 Tim. iv. 10. 



72 

thought that this experience is so much higher 
than that which had existed prior to the Incar- 
nation, that it alone, by comparison, is worthy 
to be called ^Mife/^ This seems to be in the 
mind of the apostle when he declares that 
^^ Jesus Christ hath brought life and immor- 
tality to light through the Gospel. ^^^ 

But, on the other hand, the words ^Mife" 
and " live ^^ are largely used in the Old Testa- 
ment with reference to that state of the indi- 
vidual spirit which was simply hearty allegi- 
ance to the Lord, in the testimonies of the time. 
This undoubtedly was the righteousness of the 
laWj but attached to it repeatedly was the 
promise of a blessing which can only be under- 
stood as salvation in some form — i.e., continued 
life in a future state.^ 

It is needless further to dwell on the fact that 
throughout the Old and largely also in the New 
Testament, spiritual life is regarded as simply 
the result of sincere effort for conformity to the 
divine will, whether revealed inwardly, or by 
the written law, or, in its highest form, by the 
teachings of Christ. This is the one feature 



1 2 Tim. i. 10. 

2 See Ezek., 18th chapter, which strongly supports the position 
taken by the present writer. 



73 

assumed to be common to all spiritual life, both 
before and after the Incarnation ; and there is 
much evidence in the New Testament to show- 
that Christ and His apostles understood no 
change to have taken place in this respect, but, 
on the contrary, regarded this important expe- 
rience as the basis of that fuller life in which 
the Christian could participate through the 
revelation of the love of Christ and by the 
knowledge of God thus made possible. 

Therefore if, as appears, spiritual life and 
salvation were almost convertible terms before 
the IncarnatioQ, was there anything in the 
Incarnation or anything inherent in the Gospel 
which, by its advent, would change that rela- 
tion and would sever the connection of cause 
and effect in the spiritual world which had 
always existed ? 

I am aware that there are passages in the 
Pauline Epistles apparently in conflict with this 
view, while, on the other hand, it is supported 
in the writings of the Apostle James. In each 
there is some support to that which is especially 
distinctive in the other. We may thankfully 
believe it to have been through divine wisdom 
that the importance of both faith and works 
is thus emphasized. It is reasonable to believe 



74 

that PauPs remarkable experience in regenera- 
tion, following his persecuting zeal, was divinely 
intended to shape his conception of salvation 
through free grace, as possible only by faith in 
the crucified and risen Saviour, and that through 
his teaching this truth might be experienced by 
countless repentant souls, lifted by penitential 
love into " heavenly places in Christ/^^ 

The truth of each of the two aspects of spir- 
itual life which characterize respectively the 
writings of the Apostles Paul and James is 
apparently recognized by our Saviour in His 
words, ^^I am come that they might have life, 
and that they might have it more abundantly/^^ 
The first part of the sentence seems to support 
the teaching of Paul that the experience alone 
worthy to be called life had not existed before 
His coming, but was made possible by Him. 
The latter part, however, appears to mean that 
the Gospel life and its salvation were the devel- 
opment of a life which had already existed; the 
cause of the ^^ more abundant ^^ life being His 
Incarnation and Atonement. 

It is an interesting; reflection, sustainino; the 
position in these pages, that there is reason to 
believe that the one whose supernatural appear- 

1 Eph. ii. 6. 2 John x. 10. 



75 

ances are referred to in the Old Testament as the 
^^ Angel of His Presence/^^ the '' Messenger of 
the Covenant/'^ and " the Word of the Lord/'^ 
and who was the leader, protector, and judge of 
His people, was the eternal " Word,'^* who, in 
the fulness of time, appeared in the prepared 
body — our Saviour Jesus Christ. Several 
passages in the New Testament point to this, 
and Paul apparently believed it.^ It is sup- 
ported by our Saviour himself in His declara- 
tions, especially significant, because they were 
uttered before His crucifixion : ^^ I am the light 
of the world/^^ '^ Before Abraham was, I 
am/'*^ The impressive declarations of the 
Apostle John, in the opening of his Gospel, 
also point to the same instructive truth. 

The belief is thus encouraged that He who 
came to reveal the Father and to make recon- 
ciliation with Him through the cross was, in 
the pre-existent feature of His mysterious two- 
fold nature, the same who, according to the 
eternal counsel, had ever been dealing with 
man to influence his acceptance of the divine 
government. Ever existing as the " Inner 
Light ^^^ and witness for truth in the soul of 

1 Isaiah Ixiii. 9. 2 Mai. iii. 1. 3 Ezek., passim. 

4 John i. 1. 5 1 Cor. x. 4. e John viii. 12. 

7 John viix. 58. » See Appendix, Note A, 



76 

man, He thus spoke to the conscience. This 
influence was aided in the earlier dispensation 
by the written law and by those miraculous 
manifestations of power in man's behalf and 
against his enemies which influenced him 
through the medium of sense. But in the 
fulness of time there was added to His teach- 
ing as the inner light that harmonious and 
more effective teaching through the Incarnation 
and Atonement which had power to affect the 
heart as well as to enlighten the conscience, 
thus enabling man to draw near to God in filial 
confidence and to respond intelligently with his 
will to that divine control which he knows is 
promotive of his truest happiness. 

We cannot penetrate the mystery of spiritual 
life. We cannot define life otherwise than by 
describing its results. This, while true of 
physical life, is equally true of that principle or 
capacity of moral consciousness implanted in 
man, distinguishing him from the rest of the 
animal creation, and becoming spiritual life 
through response to the operation of the divine 
life in the soul. The teaching of Scripture and 
the declarations of the Most High through His 
anointed messengers in all time establish the 
fact that this moral consciousness in man has 



77 



ever been largely influential in the determina- 
tion of his highest interests. As the will, free 
in its action, has by intention and conduct 
obeyed the voice of God as heard by conscience, 
tlie result has moulded not only man's highest 
nature, but has also greatly modified in impor- 
tant respects his physical well-being and his 
social conditions. Submission to the divine 
will, and, therefore, to a corresponding extent, 
participation in the divine life, have resulted 
in spiritual life; on the other hand, opposition, 
or, with similar results, indifference or disobedi- 
ence to that will, has produced deterioration, 
which, through continued severance from the 
source of life, becomes spiritual death. So real 
is this influence and so dynamic in its tenden- 
cies — so largely does it share in the fountain of 
life flowing through man and subject to his co- 
operation or to interruption by his will— that, 
according to divine declaration confirmed by 
human experience, it leaves its subtle impress 
on all branches of man's nature, even to ^^ the 
third and fourth generations."^ 

A spiritual reality thus manifesting itself in 
ways that show it to be akin to that divine life 
from which its existence is derived will surely 

1 Exod. XX. 5. 



78 



continue to live both now and hereafter if it 
continues to respond to the laws of life affecting 
it. There is, therefore, reason to believe that 
the relation held by spiritual life to salvation 
before the Incarnation, such life being the result 
of response to the inner light or life of 
Christ as He then addressed the conscience, 
will be unchanged (except in the way of greater 
blessing) by the Incarnation, if the life is still 
faithful to the purer moral teachings of that 
same light incarnate in Christ, even though 
His Deity may not be apprehended and the full 
benefit possible through Him be therefore not 
received in this life. 

^^ He hath shown thee, O man, what is good ; 
and what doth the Lord thy God require of 
thee but to do justly, and to love mercy, and 
to walk humbly with thy God ?''^ These words 
of the prophet can never be unsaid, nor the 
truth that they contain be reversed. The 
promise of a future life to which they point, 
and which was substantially repeated centuries 
after by the Apostle James, is based upon the 
unchangeable relation of the soul to its Creator, 
and will be fulfilled in all who honestly strive 

1 Micah vi. 8. 



79 

as children of faith to meet the conditions 
necessarily involved. 



No doubt evangelical opposition to the doc- 
trine of the inner light, and its value in man's 
spiritual life^ are partly due to unwarranted 
claims regarding such value. Extreme claims 
invite unduly sweeping denials. It is ex- 
treme and unwarranted to claim that the inner 
light alone leads man into the salvation for 
this life contemplated by the Gospel, without 
that knowledge (spiritually received, of course), 
which is obtained through the historic Christ. 
It is, on the other hand, equally extreme and 
unwarranted to gainsay the universality of the 
voice of conscience, '^ God's most intimate pres- 
ence in the soul,''^ and to deny that it has, as 
yielded to under the influence of the inner 
light, or the light of Christ within, developed 
in man moral qualities essentially similar in char- 
acter to the Gospel morality, proving that they 
are rooted in the same divine life. It is also 
only less unwarranted to assert that while valu- 
able results may have attended response to the 

1 Wordsworth. 



80 

inner light before the Incarnation or at the 
present time wherever the Gospel light has not 
shone, yet that wherever that light does exist 
the inner light then becomes of no value in 
promoting man's spiritual life. 

Such a position is arbitrary and unreason- 
able, and must operate against the right influ- 
ence of the Gospel. This inconsistency would 
be relieved if the true sphere of the inner light 
were, on the one hand, rightly limited, and, on 
the other hand, its value were acknowledged 
within those limitations ; and this, it seems to 
me, would be promoted by the view of life and 
salvation in their broad and specific aspects 
presented in these pages. 



The view of salvation now advocated is sup- 
ported in an interesting way by the account^ of 
Hagar and her child Ishmael. In it there is 
evidently prophetic reference to the fact that 
in the future of the people of God two forms 
of the life of faith would exist until, in time, 
the higher should supersede the lower. Each 
would have its particular relation to God and 

1 Genesis xxi. 



81 



His blessing, and would correspond with the 
two children of Abraham— the child of the law 
and the child of promise. 

The truth thus indicated has been realized. 
We are warranted in believing that in the dis- 
tant future ^^the earth shall be full of (that) 
knowledge of the Lord/^^ through Christ, which 
is the Gospel '^ regeneration.^^ But until thus 
possessed by the " children of the promise '^^ or 
the children of the free- woman there will also be 
in diminishing proportion, though now consti- 
tuting much the larger part of the Church of 
Christ, those who are '' converted ^' to God, 
but who only represent in varying measure the 
morality of the Gospel. These, by contrast, 
are the ^^ children of the bond-woman^ ^^ or of 
the law. 

Whatever may have been unrevealed in the 
Scripture narrative as to the feelings of Abra- 
ham toward God we do not know; but the 
record shows that it was purely his honest- 
hearted obedience that called down the blessing 
upon him and the promise upon his spiritual 
descendants. It was childlike faith in God 
which inspired his life and controlled his con- 
duct, — the conviction that his highest good was 

1 Isaiah xi. 9. 2 Gal. iv. 28. 3 Gal. iv. 31. 

6 



82 

conDected with the unseen and eternal, and that 
the entrance into this blessing was in some way 
dependent upon the obedience of faith in the 
Almighty. 

And so it has ever been that all who honestly 
seek by attention to the light and promptings 
of the Holy Spirit to keep the things of time 
and sense in subjection to eternal interests, are 
the children of Him who is called the ^^ Father 
of the faithful/^ and will receive the blessing 
promised to his spiritual descendants; while of 
these, only those who know and accept ^^the 
Gift of God ''^ in all His blessed possibilities 
become in this life the heirs of the '^ promise ^^ 
made to the spiritual descendants of the '' free 
woman/^ 



There can be no doubt that the general 
acceptance of the doctrine of evolution has 
greatly strengthened the confidence of those 
who maintain that law controls the spiritual 
kingdom, not only within certain reasonable 
limits, but to the entire exclusion of the 
supernatural, as manifested in the Incarna- 
tion and work of Christ. On the other hand, 

1 John iv. 10. 



83 



evangelical sentiment continues firmly to in- 
sist on the importance of the supernatural 
element^ and declares that without its acceptance 
there can be no true religion or entrance into 
the divine favor. 

There is an increasing disposition on all 
sides to examine into the foundations of reli- 
gious belief, and upon some minds the influence 
of this rigid and exclusive evangelical attitude 
repels and may even cause a sympathy for 
what is thus condemned, in violation, perhaps 
at times, of the testimony of the Spirit to some 
pure and Christ-like life. There is reason, 
therefore, to fear that in the conflict of views 
alluded to the loss may fall more heavily on 
the Gospel cause. 

I am firm in the conviction that a candid 
estimate of existing facts and tendencies in the 
world of spiritual life makes it desirable, in the 
interest of the Gospel itself, that Trinitarianism 
should find, if possible, some '^ modus vivendi ^^ 
with Unitarian thought, — some comprehensive 
view, as already indicated, of the relation held 
by each to the pure truth and consequently to 
each other. In such a view the radical differ- 
ence that exists would be maintained, but, instead 
of imparting its tone of dissent to the whole 



84 

relation, there would be a recognition of what- 
ever truth is held in common. With this dis- 
tinction established, a hurtful confusion of 
thought would largely disappear, and, more- 
over, the value of the truth peculiar to the 
Gospel would receive additional emphasis. 

By many earnest followers of Christ such a 
suggestion may be considered as disloyalty to 
Him. They would insist that there can be no 
yielding of the claims of the Gospel as now 
made. Such a charge, however, should dis- 
appear when it is seen that no surrender is 
proposed of anything vital to the Gospel cause, 
nor a withdrawal from any part of the field 
ever really possessed. It should also be borne 
in mind that the difference which exists is not 
between the friends and enemies of Christ, but 
is entirely between His professed followers. 
Both desire the establishment of His kingdom, 
and neither could deny that the establishment 
of that kingdom means simply the promotion 
of Godliness — i.e., God-likeness or Christ-like- 
ness of character. 

We may go a little further in diminishing 
the extent of the difference between Trinitari- 
anism and Unitarianism by asserting their com- 
mon attitude toward that aspect of the Cross 



85 

which is referred to in our Saviour's teaching 
as the ^^ daily cross/' typifying the government 
of His spirit in the life and by which, as the 
apostle says, '^ the world is crucified unto me, 
and I unto the world. ''^ Bat the essential dif- 
ference lies in the view of the Cross as the type 
of the Atonement, and this involves the accept- 
ance or the rejection of the supernatural^ in 
Christ. 

It is the peculiar characteristic of the super- 
natural in Christ that through it the divine life 
could effectually express itself as self-sacrificing 
love. In all that had preceded it in the spir- 
itual history of the chosen people, the divine 
life was expressed mainly as the moral law. 
There was much in God's dealing with His 
people that bore witness to His love for them. 
But the '' first and great commandment " was 
a command to love an unseen being, omnipo- 
tent and omnipresent, manifested in beneficent 
but also in awful ways, and expressed imper- 
sonally in the form of law. The relation to 
the Almighty thus promoted would be one 
rather of allegiance to Him as the Creator and 
Ruler of all things than the personal relation 
of a child to a loving father. 

1 Gal. vi. 14. 2 See Appendix, Note B. 



86 

In natural religion, therefore, man's concep- 
tion of God and of his relation to Him has been 
largely influenced by the voice of conscience 
and the thunders of Sinai. The intended bless- 
ing of the moral law as a ministry to his highest 
interests was to a large extent defeated through 
the sense of condemnation aroused by his in- 
ability to fulfil it. Thus it became to him 
^^a law working wrath/' ^ and some influence, 
therefore, was needed in order to change a 
slavish fear and legal relation to God into a 
filial obedience and trust. 

It is the nature of love or its highest law, so 
to speak, to know no law of action or of re- 
straint in the imparting of itself to the object 
of affection.^ The purest and loftiest expres- 
sion of this devotion is self-sacrifice for others. 
For this self-offering of love the natural order 
of law, with its rigidity and its impersonality 
of action, was inadequate. Only the higher 
order, transcending the law — i.e., the super- 
natural — was adequate, because of its freedom of 
action, whereby could be brought within the 



1 Rom. iv. 15. 

2 ** There is," says Horace Bushnell, " a vicarious spirit in love. 
All love inserts itself vicariously into the suflferings, and, in a 
certain sense, the sins of others, taking them on itself as a bur- 
den." 



87 



reach of ordinary human apprehension the truth 
respecting the unseen God and His love to man. 

Thus only could the highest light be thrown 
upon the educatory purpose of the law and upon 
its real connection with that infinite love of 
which it is, though in another form, a part. 
Thus the law of the divine life could, through 
its higher and supernatural operation, accom- 
plish in man its own fulfilment, — the only 
possible fulfilment, — in love, and thereby set 
him ^^ free from the law of sin and death. ^^ 

In this distinction between the natural opera- 
tion of '' the law of the Spirit of life^^^ and its 
supernatural operation in the incarnate Christ, 
is indicated the relative place of each in the 
progressive dealings of God with man. 

Herein is suggested, moreover, it appears 
to me, a position that Trinitarianism can take 
toward Unitarianism (somewhat in the nature 
of a "modus vivendi^^), in which, with clear loy- 
alty to evangelical views of Gospel truth, it can 
acknowledge that which is held in common by 
both forms of belief, and upon which all hope 
of future life must be based. But along with 
this acknowledgment of the blessing which at- 
tends the acceptance of Christ as the divine 

1 Rom. viii. 2. 



88 



pattern, Trinitarianism can consistently claim 
that the full blessing for this life Avhich is 
offered in the Gospel can be entered into only 
through that knowledge of God and of His 
mercy and love which must depend upon the 
revelation made by Him who '^ was in the 
beginning with God/^^ 

I cannot believe that the cause of Christ is 
promoted by urging, as an ever-present condi- 
tion of salvation hereafter, the necessity of a 
belief in those manifestations of the supernatural 
in Christ which are especially associated with 
the sacrificial and atoning character of His 
death. Insistence upon a mental attitude as 
a requisite for future life, regardless of what 
may be the degree of individual loyalty to the 
spirit of Christ, creates in some minds a hurt- 
ful confusion of thought as to the judgment or 
principles upon which entrance into future life 
is determined. It is felt by them to be, in 
effect, a challenge to believe that divine justice is 
different in character from human justice, and 
that its variations, be it noted, are not toward 
love and mercy, but rather toward severity. 

If, however, it were urged that the supernatu- 
ral in Christ was, as heretofore stated, the only 

1 Jolin i. 2. 



89 



way whereby a true knowledge of God^s love to 
man could have been effectively implanted, once 
for all, in the spiritual history of the race, and 
if thus the claim for belief in the supernatural 
were kept in its right association, the cause 
of the Gospel, in its most blessed aspect, as 
purely a ministry of love, would be strength- 
ened. The claim so made would arouse less 
opposition in the doubting mind and would be 
more likely to find its way to the heart. 

In addition to the direct and positive influ- 
ence of the blessing for which the supernatural 
in Christ was the only channel, there is a nega- 
tive aspect of the same blessing in the deliver- 
ance from the fear of death and its consequences 
— a blessing less exalted in character, but very 
real, and shown by the writer to the Hebrews 
to be an object of divine care.^ In an awak- 
ened and thoughtful life, conscious of its undy- 
ing natuie, the presence or absence of a humble 
confidence of acceptance with God must greatly 
affect the happiness of that life. More or less 
uncertainty must ever attach to the witness of 
the Holy Spirit in any soul as to its fitness for 
acceptance with God when that witness is in- 
terpreted by the soul only in the light of its 

1 Heb. ii. 15. 



90 

own conscious demerit in the divine sight. 
With a full belief in the mercy of God as a 
general truth, there is often, even in faithful 
lives, an inability to enter into a sense of the 
individual participation in that mercy. The 
more earnest and conscientious the desire to 
conform to the divine will, the more sensitive 
becomes the conscience, under repeated failures, 
to live up to the high standard accepted. This 
uncertainty in varying degrees must charac- 
terize every candid life carefully examining its 
condition, apart from the light of Calvary. 

It would be difficult to overestimate the bless- 
ing of ^^a lively hope'^^ brought into such a 
life when this distressing uncertainty is re- 
placed by the peace of a consciously well- 
founded trust in the divine mercy ; when, 
through an intelligent view of that which is 
revealed in Christ, the Divine Fatherhood is 
realized as the infinite and perfect source of the 
familiar parental relation. With this comes 
also the realization of the comforting truth 
that, as God is nigh at hand and not afar off 
in judgment, so near, at least, would He have 
us feel Him to be, in the tender compassion of 
a Father who looks at the sincerity of the 

1 1 Peter i. 3. 



91 



motive rather than at the perfectness of the 
act. 

In connection with the thoughts presented 
upon the supernatural in Christ, I feel justi- 
fied in dwelling at some length upon the two 
spiritual states now under notice, because of 
the illustration thus afforded of the two aspects 
of salvation, with the oneness and the difference 
between them. 

Very instructive is the perusal of those spir- 
itual histories which testify to the reality of the 
transition just noticed and to the blessing at- 
tending it. They reveal an earnest dedication 
of life — and obedience, in some cases, of a very 
high degree. There were apparently an unre- 
served assent to '^ the truth as it is in Jesus ^^^ 
and a trust in the mercy of God in Him, which 
ministered a hesitating comfort, often, however, 
sadly interrupted by no apparent cause; so 
that, with all, there was not that rest and peace 
of soul for which the Scriptures justify both 
the desire and the expectation. 

But a change took place in the inmost life. 
Through some influence, springing possibly 
from adversity, or perhaps not clearly trace- 
able to a cause, the spiritual vision was cleared; 

1 Eph. iv. 21. 



92 

a more receptive attitude was taken toward the 
blessing which had always been pressing for en- 
trance. ^^A new day rose upon me/^ to quote a 
representative instance; ^^it was as if another 
sun had risen into the sky ; the heavens were in- 
describably brighter, and the earth fairer; and 
that day has gone on brightening to this hour/^^ 

In reflecting upon the above, a few considera- 
tions seem to control our conclusion upon the 
important truth involved. We cannot doubt 
that salvation awaited the former of the two 
spiritual states described. We can readily 
accept the evidence, in some cases of earnest 
faithfulness, that there was consciously no dif- 
ference in the degree of obedience to the Divine 
will before and after the change. There was, 
however, a conscious change in the character of 
that obedience after it was inspired by peniten- 
tial love, aroused through a full apprehension 
of the real meaning of Christ's sacrificial death. 
While there had been undoubtedly a love of 
God, yet it was the hesitating love of an unas- 
sured harmony. 

It has been well said that '^ civilizations differ 
according to the idea of God which shines over 
them.'' In a fuller sense does this truth apply 

1 OrviUe Dewey. 



93 



to the individual unit of society. The only 
reasonable explanation, therefore, of the great 
change in the life and its outlook, which justi- 
fies the language used by those who have de- 
scribed it, must be that it was due solely to the 
fact that the spiritual eye became fully opened 
to the light of the divine love which had ever 
been shining around it, but had not been real- 
ized. With the establishment of the blessed 
reciprocal relation with the Most High for 
which the soul of man was formed came the 
rest and peace of a childlike trust, and the 
realization of the truth that ^' perfect love 
casteth out (the) fear " that ^' hath torment.'^^ 

The earlier of the two experiences just de- 
scribed is manifestly the best expression of a 
general spiritual state, or, rather (speaking fig- 
uratively), it is the uppermost margin of a 
spiritual zone with which I have connected 
the thought of the salvation of the law, more 
fully referred to elsewhere. The lower margin 
of this zone, representing the least degree of 
conformity to the divine will requisite for 
continued life in a future state, can be known 
only to God. There must ever be danger in 
any near approach to this invisible line inde- 

1 1 John iv. 18. 



94 

terminate by human judgment, and the location 
of which in each life must be influenced by 
the opportunities and corresponding responsi- 
bilities of its environment. Such may be the 
situation of those who view salvation solely 
as a condition of safety for the next world, 
thereby losing that witness of the Spirit which 
accompanies only the conscious ^^ adoption of 
children''^ to the Most High. The danger of 
such IS surely increased in proportion as they 
rely upon outward Church connections and 
doctrinal soundness to counterbalance the results 
of a hesitating obedience to the teachings of the 
divine life in the soul and of a too careful 
balancing of the claims for and against consent 
to questionable practices.^ 

Recurring to the figure above used, the en- 
trance into the upper of the two spiritual re- 
gions — i.e.y the salvation of the Gospel or the 

1 Eph. i. 5. 

2 In these reflections upon spiritual classes, which must, of 
course, be made up of individual units, an important distinction 
should be borne in mind : that while it is not only allowable, 
but, as we may believe, a part of that meditation upon the divine 
law which the Psalmist commends, to seek to discern the princi- 
ples of the divine economy affecting man's happiness here and 
hereafter, yet that is very different from attempting to apply those 
principles in judgment upon individual lives. One may be exer- 
cised by finite man in the submission of faith, with elevating in- 
fluence upon his spiritual life ; the other is within the province 
only of the infinite judgment, which can weigh " the thoughts 
and intents of the heart." (Heb. iv. 12.) 



95 - 

^^ higher life ^^ of the soul — is an event in the 
individual life that is known by its own light, 
and cannot be confused with any lower experi- 
ence. Upon the testimony of many it is de- 
scribed as a state in which, through ^^the min- 
istry of reconciliation, all things are become 
new, and all things are of God^'^ and com- 
parable to ^^ a new heaven and a new earth. '^^ 
While entrance into this experience may be, 
and no doubt often is, otherwise than by pass- 
ing from the lower salvation of the law, yet in 
reality many spiritual histories follow that 
course. I have brought such a history into 
view for the purpose of comparison and con- 
trast, believing that in the clearly defined tran- 
sition of experience thus revealed, and for which 
such forcible language is used by those who de- 
scribe it, strong support is given to the truth of 
the distinction involved in the twofold aspect of 
salvation, and also to the important connection 
therewith of the supernatural in Christ, by reason 
of its peculiar and effective teaching as an influ- 
ence in the transition alluded to. 

With a clear apprehension of the relation be- 
tween the divine life in law and the same life 
in the supernatural, and the connection of these 

1 2 Cor. V. 17, 18. 2 Rev. xxi. 1. 



96 



with man's spiritual life and salvation, we can 
await with confidence any finally established 
discoveries of science and the results of higher 
criticism, if it be truly reverent. Whatever 
revelations through these channels the future 
may have in store, their influence would be 
confined to their own sphere. They could not 
affect unfavorably our attitude toward the 
truth whose operation is on the higher level 
of love — the love of God revealed supernatu- 
rally in Christ and the responsive life of the 
spiritual affections in man moved upon and con- 
secrated by the spirit of Christ. 

With this establishment upon the immutable 
foundation of that Divine Love (^^ charity '^y 
which ^^abideth'^ forever, we can rejoice at 
every tribute of praise, whencesoever it may 
arise in His kingdom, which expresses a sense 
of the all-fatherhood of God. But we can 
readily believe that to Him who, above all else, 
is Love, the most acceptable of such tributes will 
be the ^^Abba, Father,^^^ which reveals the 
intuitive discernment of the heart, the unre- 
served, unquestioning trust of love, characteristic 
of that childlike nature^ which, by His own 

1 1 Cor. xiii. 13. 2 Rom. viii. 15. 

3 **'In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank thee, 
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these 



97 



words, is requisite in order to ^^ enter into the 
Kingdom of Heaven. ^^^ 



I believe the acceptance of this dual view of 
salvation would be a benefit to the cause of re- 
ligion, broadly stated, and also to the more 
limited view of religion in much evangelical 
literature wherein it is contrasted with morality, 
the result being to place religion and morality 
almost in a position of antagonism, to the in- 
jury of each. 

In the relation between religion and morality, 
so viewed, religion is confined to a spiritual 
experience in which a sense of condemnation 
and repentance for sin issues in the acceptance 
of Christ and a trust in His atoning death as 
the divinely provided offering for sin. The 
divine life in man is regarded as a change of 
spiritual state impossible aside from such an 
experience. The value of ^^good works ^^ is 
denied unless they spring from a grateful love 
aroused by a trust in Christ^s meritorious death 

things from the wise and from the prudent, and hast revealed 
them unto babes." (Luke x. 21. ) It has been pointed out, and in 
view of the connection it becomes of much interest, that this is 
the only record in the sacred narrative of Jesus having mani- 
fested a joyful spirit. 
1 Matt, xviii. 3. 

7 



98 

upon the cross. This only, it is claimed, is the 
^^righteousness of Christ/' 

A definition o£ morality as it is used in 
these pages would entirely exclude hypocriti- 
cal conduct. Morality is regarded as the re- 
sult in man of sincere effort to conform to the 
requirements of the moral character of God as 
they are apprehended by him, whether made 
known through that voice of God which has 
ever spoken more or less clearly in every soul, 
or by the moral law delivered to the chosen 
people, or by the purer teaching of Christ 
simply as an anointed human teacher. It is 
the result of the life of God in the soul of 
man, unaided by that influence upon his spir- 
itual affections received through the Incar- 
nation and its connected facts. In its best as- 
pects morality is Theism of the purest character, 
sincere in its inability to accept the Trinitarian 
idea of God, but honestly desirous of growing 
in the divine life revealed in Christ. Yet even 
when thus defined, morality is declared to be 
^^self-righteousness,^' and therefore offensive in 
the divine sight. 

This attitude toward morality on the part 
of evangelical sentiment is prompted by the 
desire to exalt Divine Grace in the work of 



99 



Christ as the only effective agency in man's 
redemption, and correspondingly to discourage 
self-exaltation. If, in this apparent antithesis 
of religion and morality, the latter term were 
applied solely to a hypocritical life or to a for- 
mal discharge of the duties of religion, and 
compliance with the teachings of Christ from 
inferior motives, no exception should be taken 
to it. But such is not the case. Faith in the 
Deity and Atonement of Christ is the one con- 
clusive test, and a Christ-like life, if joined to 
Unitarian belief, is regarded as ^* mere moral- 
ity '^ and not to be recognized as true religion. 

When thus the ethical motive is not consid- 
ered as important, and conduct which springs 
from desire simply to merit immunity from 
past transgression is put upon the same level 
as that which proceeds from sincere desire to be 
Christ-like, confusion must be introduced at the 
very foundation of the practical life of holiness. 
The sense of personal demerit and of depend- 
ence upon the help of the Holy Spirit may be 
as marked in the one as in the other; but be- 
cause in one there is an honest inability to be- 
lieve in the Deity and Atonement of Christ, the 
motive as well as the conduct is declared to be 
of no value in the divine sight and of no help 



100 

to the individual. Such a supposed distinction 
between two spiritual states, both of which are 
undoubtedly the result of living faith and may 
possibly be similar, so far as the unspoken tes- 
timony of the life is concerned, can scarcely 
fail to depreciate, however unintentionally, the 
value of uncalculating obedience to the voice of 
the Holy Spirit. It must tend also to promote 
an undue estimate of the value of merely intel- 
lectual assent to the truth in Christ, and to 
make such belief in Him and trust in what is 
called His '^ finished work '^ an act of merit 
in which the spirit will almost unconsciously 
find satisfaction. 

The danger of encouraging a spirit of pride 
and self-dependence by acknowledging the value 
of moral effort per se is overestimated. On the 
contrary, the truest humility has generally been 
found in those to whom the Cross has brought 
not only its comforting light, but in whom it has 
always wrought its distinct and daily discipline. 

This attitude of evangelical sentiment toward 
morality, moreover, has no warrant in the 
teaching of our Saviour, and is opposed both 
by the spirit and the words of the Sermon on 
the Mount. When our Lord declared the 
blessings which resulted from the possession 



101 



by His followers of the several qualities of 
His own divine life, there is not the slightest 
suggestion that the recognition by others of 
these qualities should be withheld until the 
mental attitude was known toward His two- 
fold nature and His death. In the very nature 
of the case, and confirmed by the testimony 
of human experience ever since, ^' the poor in 
spirit/^ ^Hhe pure in heart/^ and ^Hhe peace- 
makers '^^ are unmistakably known by charac- 
teristics which can neither be denied nor for any 
length of time be simulated. Springing from 
the root of eternal life, they bear the impress 
of their holy origin, receiving both the human 
acknowledgment and that divine blessing which 
will never be unsaid nor turned aside. 

I know that portions of the Epistle to the 
Romans seem to be in conflict with the broad 
view above stated, and to this is largely due 
the evangelical attitude toward morality. We 
cannot believe, however, that there is any 
real conflict between the teaching of the Master 
and the doctrine of His great apostle. On the 
contrary, they are seen to be entirely in har- 
mony when viewed in the light of the truth 
now urged as to salvation ; and the apostle's 

1 Matt. V. 3, 8, 9. 



102 

teaching refers especially to that aspect of salva- 
tion, for the presentation of which his remark- 
able experience specially qualified him. 

Encouragement has been given to unbalanced 
teaching in this connection by the unwarranted 
application of a few passages in the Book of 
Isaiah and the Epistles of Paul. There would 
be a general agreement in the view that moral 
conduct at its best cannot atone for the past, 
and in its power to purchase pardon is com- 
parable to ^^ filthy rags ^^^ and dross. But the 
unguarded use of these figures of speech has 
often resulted in diverting them from their in- 
tended connection, and in thus depreciating 
unintentionally the importance of conduct 
which is simply obedience to the teachings 
of Christ.^ 

The view of salvation advocated in these 

1 Isaiah Ixiv. 6. 

2 In a sermon entitled " Confession of Sin and Confession of 
Faith," John Service, minister, of Inch, Scotland, points out an 
important difference between these terms. He contends that cer- 
tain expressions of the Apostle Paul, upon which doctrine has to 
some extent been based, were but the impulsive utterances of an 
earnest, sensitive nature under conviction for sin. Under the 
influence of strong emotion he expressed himself in language, 
figurative and somewhat poetical. It is not the language of delib- 
erate judgment, in which only doctrinal truth would be expressed. 
The failure to observe this distinction has tended to *' confuse and 
obscure to many minds the importance of moral distinctions" 
and to depreciate the value of conduct, which should rather be 
encouraged. 



103 



pages would do away with this apparent oppo- 
sition between religion and morality; for the 
confusion that results therefrom it would sub- 
stitute a harmonious though clearly defined rela- 
tion^ in the light of which the true sphere of 
each would appear as the lower to the higher 
in the divine purpose for man ; morality 
would be seen as the basis of all really God- 
ward living and an inseparable part of true 
religion, but unable of itself, apart from evan- 
gelical truth, to create in man his highest 
relation to God in his life. In addition to 
the harmonious relation thus shown between 
religion and morality, which is substantially 
the same as that between ^^ faith and works'' 
or ^^ belief and ^^ character,'' a view is sug- 
gested also of ^^ conversion " and ^^regenera- 
tion," which, it appears to me, would largely 
relieve the existing confusion incident to the 
indiscriminate use of those words. In this 
view ^' conversion," as its literal meaning im- 
plies, is an honest turning to God, accepting 
the truth of the Gospel, and, as to intention, 
the government of Christ; but such a state has 
not entered into the close union with Him im- 
plied in ^^regeneration" or the ^^ new birth," 
which is the entrance contemplated by the Gos- 



104 

pel into the life of fellowship with the Father 
and the Son. 

Again, the value of ^^ emotion ^^ or ^^ feel- 
ing/' as an evidence of ^^ a saving faith'' in 
Christ and a vital connection with Him, would 
be seen in its true light. Some claim, and 
others deny, that ^^ feeling " is of much impor- 
tance or to be seriously regarded in comparison 
with simple, deliberate faith in Christ's atoning 
work. There is no doubt reason to believe that 
very many are honestly converted to God, and 
are in the way of salvation in a future life, whose 
spiritual state seems to be confined mostly to 
honest allegiance to the Lord — apparently with- 
out the distinct joy of communion, which is the 
^' feeling " referred to. It is, however, unrea- 
sonable to believe that a true ^^regeneration" 
can exist without consciousness or ^^ emotion," 
because it is participation in a life which is life 
in the highest possible sense. It is inconceiv- 
able that such an experience could be without 
feeling. It may not be, indeed, it probably 
seldom is, unbroken, and differs in this respect 
from the sense of forgiven sin, which may be 
continuous if not interrupted by consent to 
transgression, which immediately and consciously 
reveals its separating power. 



105 



In the course of these considerations there 
has been occasion several times to refer to the 
limitations of natural religion. The belief has 
also repeatedly been expressed that only through 
spiritual apprehension of the truth revealed in 
the Incarnation and its connected facts, especi- 
ally the Deity of Christ, could there be expe- 
rienced in this life that conscious sonship to God 
which is the fulfilment of the Gospel purpose. 
I am aware that this may appear to be incon- 
sistent with the opening thought in these pages. 
The position is there taken that the manifes- 
tation of the Spirit of Christ, rather than the 
mental attitude toward the truth respecting 
Him, must be the conclusive evidence of the 
spiritual state and its attendant hope of salva- 
tion. The inconsistency alluded to, which is 
more apparent than real, is especially suggested 
when there is found in connection with Unita- 
rian thought not only the spiritual life which 
is ethical likeness to Christ, but in addition 
thereto a marked degree of filial confidence and 
love to God. 

When this latter quality of spiritual life is 
manifest in one who denies the Deity of Christ, 
it can be urged, in support of the position taken 
in these pages, that it is impossible now in 



106 



Christian communities to find any illustration 
of the results of pure Unitarian belief. The 
atmosphere — social, intellectual, and religious 
— is thoroughly permeated with the light of the 
Trinitarian view of divine truth. It is im- 
possible now to unlearn what has thus been 
taught, or to avoid responding (however uncon- 
sciously) to the cumulative influence through 
generations of a spiritual consciousness moulded 
by evangelical belief. No one can realize what 
the thought of God and the spiritual state would 
now be if it had been always dependent upon the 
teaching of Christ viewed as only a man. 

As His brethren, the disciples of Christ were 
called to share with Him the love and the one- 
ness which He had with the Father. With the 
realization of this spiritual union, the belief 
might readily take hold of some minds in suc- 
ceeding generations that as this experience was 
largely one in nature with that which had been 
enjoyed by Christ himself, its existence there- 
fore in Him and in them was alike the result of 
the one Holy Spirit, the only difference being that 
upon Him it had been poured without measure. 
It seems reasonable, therefore, to believe that 
the denial of His Deity might have found place 
with those who were sincerely His friends, 



107 



through a desire to exalt that divinity (or 
divine life) in man whose possibilities were 
illustrated in Him and which they were in- 
vited to share. But however sincere the in- 
tention thus to glorify Christ as the head of 
exalted humanity, those who entertained it 
were disregarding the important fact that 
God's disposition toward man had never been 
effectively made known to fallen humanity, 
nor could it have been confidently '' believed 
on in the world ''^ on any testimony merely 
human. For the attainment, however, of this 
knowledge, the Unitarian denies the necessity 
of the supernatural involved in the Deity or 
the twofold nature of Christ, He claims that 
as light is its own witness, so likewise the light of 
moral beauty commends itself with its own self- 
evidencing authority, and that man is capaci- 
tated to recognize it, and, under the influence 
of the Spirit, to respond thereto. He therefore 
urges that in the beautiful life, and especially 
in the self-sacrifice of Christ, through His con- 
secration to the noblest ideals, there exist the 
highest attractive power and the utmost en- 
couragement to man to imitate that holy ex- 
ample; and this is all that is needed for his 

1 Tim. iii. 16. 



108 



participation in the divine life, if he faithfully 
responds thereto. 

But while we acknowledge the inspiration 
that exists in self-sacrifice for the good of 
others, yet there is nothing in the history of 
human experience to justify the assertion that 
moral beauty, even as shown in Christ, was 
by itself an adequate cause or explanation of 
the influence of His life on earth and the 
change that resulted therefrom. The extent 
of this change was shown in the more intelli- 
gent idea of God and His government. Its 
central thought was the Divine Fatherhood, 
and the connected truth of the brotherhood of 
man. The character of this change was espe- 
cially manifested in a deeper sense of God's 
love and mercy, exercised without derogating 
from His justice. Joined with the above were 
truer thoughts of a future life and a more 
vivid hope of entrance therein. It is incon- 
ceivable that these results, connected so inti- 
mately with the infinite unseen, could have 
been established upon the testimony of any 
man, simply as a man, liowever filled with that 
divine life possible to all men. The more earn- 
est the aspiration of soul toward the infinite life 
it half consciously touched, the stronger would 



109 



be the desire for confidence in any declarations 
regarding that life — ^Hhe many mansions ^^ in 
the ^' Father's house/^^ — and especially regard- 
ing the Divine Fatherhood itself. 

After the uaique life and mission of Christ 
had revealed the trath, then the reasonableness 
of man's high relation to God was perceived. 
It was then seen as a truth that shone also in 
its own light, and hence a conception of Christ 
arose which, however honest the motive of glo- 
rifying Him, ignored the way in which alone 
this conception could have been attained.^ But 
in advance of this result of revelation it was 
necessary that an assurance of these truths 
should be received through one whose authority 
to speak of such mysteries was indubitably at- 
tested by those superhuman features of His 
life which bore witness to a superhuman ele- 
ment in His nature, including the pre-existence 
revealed in His own declarations. 

There can be no reasonable ground for doubt 
that the truth of the threefold manifestation of 
the one God was accepted in the origin of the 
Christian faith. Although the doctrinal for- 

1 John xiv. 2. 

2 Since writing the above, I have seen the same thought epi- 
grammatically expressed by Joseph Parker, of London: "It 
required the Christ to invent a Christ." 



110 

mulation of this truth did not occur for many 
years later, yet there is abundant evidence that 
the supernatural facts upon which it rested were 
believed at the first and formed the basis of 
that Gospel hope which the apostles were com- 
missioned to proclaim. Their declaration of 
facts so contrary to all human expectation 
could have resulted only from a conviction of 
their truth made undeniable through the tes- 
timony of their senses. Apparently they did 
not attempt to reconcile the union of the divine 
power, thus manifested, with that humanity 
whose sympathy and love they had enjoyed. 
Nor could we expect or wish that the mystery 
which ^ ^ angels desire to look into^'^ should be 
brought down to the level of our human com- 
prehension. 

Putting aside, therefore, as His followers 
apparently did, all expectation of understand- 
ing His twofold nature, we can rest in the 
belief, evidently held by them,^ that Christ was 
truly a man in all that was really human, but 
that therewith were joined characteristics supra- 
human and necessary for that revelation which 
it seems perfectly natural (that is, reasonable) 
should once in the history of our planet have 

1 1 Peter i. 12. 2 see Appendix, Note C. 



Ill 



been made by infinite love and power, in order 
to bring within the reach of man a knowledge 
of the unseen God, which he could have re- 
ceived, with equal confidence, in no other way. 

Against the truth of the twofold nature of 
Christ the Unitarian also urges that to regard 
Christ as more than a man removes Him be- 
yond the reach of human sympathy and the 
hope of imitation; but there exists essentially 
the same difficulty in the Unitarian conception 
of Christ In it He is represented as ^Hhe 
best of the prophets " — '' the only perfect and 
sinless man/^ The latter description differen- 
tiates Him from all else far more widely than 
to consider Him as ^^ the best of the prophets ^' 
— those who, although channels of divine 
communication for the instruction of others, 
yet were themselves by no means perfect men. 
To think of Christ as ^^the only perfect and 
sinless man " must lift Him at once in thought 
far above the level of human nature. It un- 
doubtedly carries with it the conviction that 
there was with Him some agency supernatural 
in character, as it made Him distinct from all 
others of our race and different from that which 
would have been predicated as possible. 

While, therefore, in the Trinitarian and Uni- 



112 

tarian conceptions of Christ there is a difference 
that is radical, yet they are alike in viewing Him 
as an absolutely unique being. In each there is 
the thought of a perfect human nature, and 
each reveals between Christ and man an im- 
passable gulf as regards the hope of complete 
imitation. 

However the Unitarian w^ould explain the 
admitted perfection of Christ, it is impossible 
to add to any thing that is already perfect. 
We therefore claim that whatever Trinitarian 
thought adds to the (already supernatural) char- 
acter of the Unitarian Christ does not intensify 
or widen the sense of difference felt by man 
between himself and that perfect being. Con- 
sequently we deny that a closer sympathy with 
Christ results from the denial of His twofold 
nature ; but, on the contrary, we believe that 
the gulf of separation is more likely to be 
bridged by the interpretation that Trinitari- 
anism gives to His life. 

To estimate rightly the influence of the Christ 
of Unitarian thought, our impression of Him 
must to a large extent be recast. We must, as 
far as possible, think of Him apart from the 
miraculous incidents recorded in His life. 
While no doubt the highest evidence of His 



113 

divine mission must ever be seen in the 
truth that he taught and the character by 
which He illustrated it, yet that evidence and 
its influence upon the Jews of that day were 
largely aided by the manifestation of His 
almighty power. And as regards the count- 
less number since that time ^^ that have not 
seen, and yet have believed/^^ it would be im- 
possible to realize the loss were we compelled 
to dismiss from our thoughts of that life so 
much which we believe to have been the divinely 
intended evidence of its twofold character. We 
should lose that wondrous record of healing, so 
important a part of His tender ministry to the 
varied forms of human infirmity, and the sensible 
evidence of His power to heal the deeper de- 
formity wrought by sin ! No voice from 
heaven would break the silence of the ages, 
and add its impressive seal to all else that wit- 
nessed to the heaven-sent mission of the ^^ be- 
loved Son."^ No longer could we think of the 
miraculous Conception as the appropriate be- 
ginning foretold in prophecy, or of the Resurrec- 
tion and Ascension, with the priceless hopes 
they cherish, as the fittingly majestic ending of 
an earthly life whose object in part it was to 

1 John XX. 29. 2 Matt. xvii. 5. 



114 



reveal to man the reality of the connection be- 
tween the life seen and the life unseen. 

When all this is interpreted, as we believe it 
can rightly be, only in the light of the central 
truth of Trinitarian thought, the death of 
Christ; and when that event is filled with its 
richest meaning/ not as a vicarious sacrifice 
accepted by God to appease His anger, but as 
the utmost possible evidence that infinite love 
in thus ^^ giving itself includes the lesser gift 
of forgiveness f^ we claim, in view of the above, 
that whatever the attraction and sympathy ex- 
erted by Christ regarded as only a man, yet a 
greater attraction exists when He is seen also in 
His higher character as '^ the only begotten of the 
Father,'^^ through whom the knowledge is con- 
veyed to man that almighty love and power are 
enlisted in helping him to overcome sin and to 
realize his possible union with the divine life. 



The question may be asked. Can a spiritually 
beautiful Unitarian life be accounted for (and 
it is useless, or worse, to deny the existence of 
such lives) except as resulting from the opera- 

1 See Appendix, Note D. 

2 Thomas Erskine, of Linlathen, Scotland. 3 John i. 14. 



115 



tion of a principle which at its root is love, 
divine love? Nor need Trinitarians fear the 
charge of inconsistency by accepting the ex- 
planation indicated in a negative answer to such 
a query. 

We know that holiness or Christ-likeness is 
the one divinely intended object of attainment 
for man. We also must believe that all which 
is really Christlike and witnesses for Him can 
spring only from His life, however appre- 
hended. The denial of this would tend to 
hopeless confusion. Nothing would be more 
likely to destroy belief in the Atonement, — 
nothing would more tend to impair confidence 
in one^s own share in the benefits of that 
Atonement than to be required to believe in 
the irregular and special operation of infinite 
love. The divine life, which is love, is typi- 
fied in Scripture by the light. Like light, its 
blessings are limited only by the openness or 
power to receive it. But we cannot think of 
it after that manner if we believe that the 
divine blessing connected with every measure 
of Christ-likeness would be withheld from any 
soul because of the character of its mental atti- 
tude toward the nature of Christ- — an attitude 
not inconsistent with full loyalty to His au- 



116 

thority, but affecting primarily belief in His 
divinity as distinguished from His Deity/ and 
involving therein the question of His pre- 
existence and the way in which the benefit of 
His death is to be experienced. 

As there are differences and degrees in life, 
so also there are differences and degrees of love 
toward God and the spiritual beauty which 
shines from that love, and these variations are 
dependent upon the completeness with which 
the truth is apprehended as well as upon the 
individual faithfulness in response thereto. 
Sincere conduct-controlling love of truth and 
goodness is love of God, and correspondingly 
reflects Christ's moral beauty; but in this 
there may be no element of penitential love, 
and the spiritual beauty which flows from it 
In the view of the Unitarian there appears to 
be no occasion for such love, provided there is 
an honest change of heart toward God. There 
may be regret for wasted life and for blessing 
unappropriated; so there may be sorrow for 
sin, and in that sense repentance. But in the 
repentance which is thus encouraged there is 
no place for penitential love to Christ, because 
there is not that sense of condemnation for sin 

1 See note E. 



117 

as a burden from which relief must be sought 
through the offering of Christ. This position 
is contrary to what might reasonably be in- 
ferred from the Unitarian belief, that by na- 
ture man potentially shares the nature of God. 
From this flows the thought that with the ear- 
liest stirrings of the divine life in any heart 
would come a depressing sense of past sin and 
of alienation from God. With the sharing to 
some extent of God's natare would presumably 
be joined the sharing of His attitude toward 
sin. Nothing would indicate more strongly 
than this the possession of characteristics akin 
to the divine. 

The consequence just stated as one presum- 
ably flowing from Unitarian thought is con- 
firmed by the spiritual history of the human 
race. There is nothing in that history more 
clearly established than the fact that with the 
awakened sense of sin comes also the conscious 
need of deliverance from its consequences. In 
its simple expression this has ever appeared as 
a need for expiation through sacrifice. In its 
highest expression it became the desire for a 
deliverance not only from the consequences of 
sin, but also from its power. 

Ignoring this, however, Unitarianism re- 



118 

gards the sacrifice of Christ as having no influ- 
ence through its relation to the past of any 
spiritually awakened life. It considers the in- 
fluence of Christ's death as one in character 
with that of His life. His death is simply the 
crowning evidence of His self-consecration and 
the most effective feature of that example by 
which He attracts to high moral and self- 
denying attainment. Therefore, the spiritual 
beauty in a Unitarian life, if strictly true to the 
Unitarian idea^ is only or mainly ethical beauty. 
This is undeniably a true spiritual beauty. 
Although it may be lacking in a certain warmth 
and tenderness of feeling (and there seems to be 
adequate explanation for the ^^ proverbial cold- 
ness '' against which Unitarians have felt some- 
times required to defend themselves), yet nothing 
would be gained by refusing to acknowledge all 
measures of Christ-likeness, wherever found, or 
by denying what is thus added to the cause of 
righteousness in the earth; while at the same 
time we do deny that in such a way the Gospel 
ideal is realized. 

Whatever Unitarianism may leave in the 
Gospel which is helpful to certain minds at- 
tracted by the philosophical and more intel- 
lectual aspects of divine truth, yet in ignoring 



119 

the subjective as well as the objective influence 
of Christ^s death as an offering for sin, it would 
take from the Gospel that which has proved itself 
to be for men in general the great attraction to 
a life of self-denial and righteousness and the 
power which has humbled and broken and then 
filled with consecration the life of many a hard- 
ened sinner, who would have been unmoved by 
any presentation of truth which did not first 
meet his deepest need in the evangelical teach- 
ing of the cross. 

We can, therefore, acknowledge spiritual 
beauty in a Unitarian life, and the holy source 
whence it must spring ; yet in view of the ten- 
dering and uniting influence in human relation- 
ship of pardon cordially sought and graciously 
granted, — in view also of the analogy therewith 
in man's relation to God, it is difficult to under- 
stand how any life, whatever be its righteous- 
ness, can be truly rich and tender which has 
never known the humbling and contriting in- 
fluence of penitence toward God and the joy of 
conscious pardon through Christ. 

While a Unitarian life may reflect in some 
measure the light of love and mercy which now 
floods the spiritual world, although Unitarian- 
ism does not connect that light with its true 



120 



source, the Deity of Christ, yet I maintain that 
such a life would more surely become Christ- 
centred instead of self-centred, and its spiritual 
beauty and influence be thus made more attrac- 
tive, if it were joined with that penitential love 
through Christ in which there is, purely of 
itself, a power peculiarly calculated to awaken 
and stimulate self -consecration and give to char- 
acter a special quality of tenderness and humility. 



*^This is my beloved Son, * * * hear ye Him."^ 
This '^ voice which came from heaven ^^^ was an 
added and most impressive seal to the divinely 
authorized mission of Christ ; and it expressed, 
as I believe, the Gospel purpose in His coming. 

The declaration thus made did not introduce 
any new condition for the obtaining of salva- 
tion in its simplest form. It did, however, im- 
pliedly introduce a condition for the obtaining 
in this life of a new spiritual relation to the 
Father — a relation which, in the fulness of its 
hope and in the confidence toward God, made 
possible by the revelation of Christ, brought 
within reach of man, even while in the flesh, a 

1 Matt. xvii. 5. 2 Peter i. 18. 



121 



participation essentially in that which constitutes 
the future happiness of the redeemed soul. The 
appeal to hear this, '' my beloved Son/' was the 
introduction to that final manifestation of the 
divine love which, at various times through 
the centuries, '' spake unto the fathers by the 
prophets/^ and was now " in these last days ^'^ 
speaking " by His Son/^ a message such as 
only the pre-existent Son could convey. But, 
whatever was added by this message through 
the Son to that which had preceded it, through 
all was taught one constant condition of life. 
The words of inspired messengers of the Al- 
mighty joined with that language of experience 
which speaks through the results of disregarded 
law — the ^Maw in [the] members ^^^ and testi- 
fied to the immutable truth that life could only 
be realized in conformity to the divine laws 
affecting it, outwardly revealed at Sinai and 
inwardly sealed upon the conscience by the 
Spirit of Christ. 

And now, at the outset of the Gospel minis- 
try, a voice from the infinite unseen makes the 
same appeal for obedient regard to the teach- 
ings of Him who is '' the Way, the Truth, and 
the Life,^^3_a Hear ye Him.'' 

1 Heb. i. 1, 2. 2 Rom. vii. 23. s john xiv. 6. 



122 

The full meaning of these words is only real- 
ized as they are seen in the light of their con- 
nection with the previous dealings of God with 
man. In the light of the purpose thus revealed, 
a purpose unvarying in its love, but varying in 
the form of its manifestation, according to the 
progressing ability of man to apprehend it, is 
it not allowable to interpret these words from 
heaven with reverent freedom and to read into 
them that which we may believe God would 
have us to understand Him as saying: ^^ Be- 
hold My Son, who now in the fulness of time 
comes to present the crowning evidence of 
divine love for man. Receive Him in the 
way that will most promote in each soul the 
growth of the divine life. Hear Him, in 
His words, and also in the unspoken language 
of His life. Hear Him, obediently, in His 
declaration of those higher principles of life 
which affect the springs of action toward God 
and man and give to conduct that true value of 
right motive, which the mere compulsions of 
the Mosaic law could not do. Hear Him, also, 
in that message conveyed by His life, with its 
unique features, proclaiming Him to be the 
object of prophecy and the great antetype of 
sacrificial offering for sin, for which the cere- 



123 . 

monial law had been educating. The blessing 
brought into each life will be in proportion to 
the faithfulness of the response to that which is 
presented by and through Him, with its power 
to lift each life nearer to the source of all life. 
But the possible blessing in all its intended ful- 
ness will be realized only when, in addition to 
accepting Him as the divinely anointed teacher 
of righteousness, He is seen to be also the eter- 
nal ^^ Word made flesh,^^^ the pre-existing Son 
who comes to add to all that could be previ- 
ously known of Me, such a clear revelation of 
My nature as love, as could in no other way be 
known with needed certainty , and with the sim- 
plicity suited to all intellectual states, the high- 
est evidence of which is furnished in the Incar- 
nation and Atonement.^' 

Does not this comprehensive view of the 
divine purpose in Christ harmonize with what 
we should expect of infinite love yearning to 
minister its help in any way ? When we re- 
flect that it is the infinite, perfect, and all-wise 
seeking to communicate itself to the finite, 
when we consider the varied forms which the 
pride of man assumes, opposing and even ex- 
alting itself ^^ against the knowledge of God, 

1 John i. 14, 2 2 Cor. x. 5. 



J)2 



124 

can we not believe that the urgency of almighty 
love would fill every channel by which it could 
impart itself to any life that might thus share 
in fuller measure the divine nature ? 

Thus only can the Gospel be relieved from 
being constructively an addition to the law and 
its claim justified as the '^ Glad Tidings " of an 
infinite love. 

He has the firmest grasp on evangelical truth, 
and is less likely to be disturbed by the vary- 
ing currents of religious opinion, who thus ap- 
prehends the Gospel somewhat in the light of 
the divine purpose toward man. While it is 
true that penitential love and obedience are the 
only conditions of entrance into that blessed 
'^fellowship (which) is with the Father and 
with His Son, Jesus Christ/^^ yet he most fully 
enjoys the possible blessing of that hallowed 
communion who, in the light of the unity of 
all truth, sees the relation which the great cen- 
tral fact of the Gospel holds to the varied mani- 
festations of that divine life and love of which it 
is the glorious consummation. Thus to appre- 
hend the Gospel is to see it also, as it were, on 
its infinite side, and to obtain, as at the feet of 
the Great Teacher, a spiritual outlook which 

1 1 John i. 3. 



125 

combines the teaching of the ^^ Sermon on the 
Mount^^ with the comprehensive vision of the 
Mount of Transfiguration. The former teaches 
that in sincere response of the life to the ex- 
ample and precepts of Christ as the perfect 
expression of the moral character of God lies 
union with the divine life. This is the ever- 
present condition of salvation in its broad 
hope and in its ^^ Beatitudes ^^ for all men. 
The latter shows that a more exalted relation 
to God in Christ is now possible through Him 
and open in this life to all His faithful disciples 
who see Him transfigured in the light of the 
^^ excellent glory. ^^^ In this light the Elder 
Brother of our human nature is revealed in the 
superhuman ^^ brightness ^^^ of His eternal re- 
lation to the Father. 

In this heavenly fellowship to which man is 
called the central object of interest is '' His 
decease * * * at Jerusalem ^'^ — the theme which 
engaged the attention of saintly leaders of the 
past upon ^^the holy mount. ^^* '^ The Lamb 
of God/^^ through His self-offering for sin, is 
seen to be both the '^ Door of Hope ^^^ and '' the 
Way^' through which man may rise into the 

1 2 Peter i. 17. 2 Heb. i. 3. 3 Luke ix. 31. * 2 Peter i. 18. 
5 John i. 36. 6 Hosea ii. 15. 



126 

divine harmony, and in penitential love and 
holy aspiration may realize in the present life 
that conscious union with the Infinite which is 
a foretaste of heaven. 

'^ I looked, and behold a door was opened 
in heaven • * * * and I beheld, * * * i^ ^^j^g 
midst of the throne * * * a Lamb as it had been 

slain/^^ 

♦ -Jf -x- 

In conclusion, and to present summarily the 
main thought in these pages, I trust I have 
succeeded in establishing my full unity with 
evangelical belief regarding the Deity and 
work of Christ. 

I hope it is also manifest that my motive in 
thus writing is not to defend Unitarianism, 
but to endeavor to relieve a confusion which 
largely prevails as to important truths, and 
operates practically to the disadvantage both 
of morality and of religion, as presented in the 
legitimate claims of the Gospel. 

I feel sure that in this confusion, the sense 
of which has rested with me, many others will 
recognize a difficulty that they have been more 
or less conscious of, as they have found the 
assertions of creeds and church utterances con- 

1 Rev. iv. 1 ; Rev. v. 6. 



127 



tradicted on some points not only by those un- 
reasoning intuitions which at times will assert 
themselves^ but also by the testimony of the 
Spirit regarding some life whose Christ-like- 
ness was formed only by following Him as a 
teacher. 

I think these will also find upon reflection 
that the difficulty alluded to has increased in 
proportion as they have themselves progressed 
in the experience of the fact that the essence 
of religion^ and consequently of salvation, lies 
in the relation held to a living personality of 
truth as love rather than in any relation to 
truth as doctrine. 

In the prevailing orthodox view a knowl- 
edge of the outward coming of Christ is re- 
garded as essential to the obtaining of divine 
life and salvation, and the salvation so obtained 
is thought to be an experience of the future. 
So long as this view exists the confusion re- 
ferred to must continue. Nor can it disappear 
until the Gospel is seen in its true and full 
light ; not only in that light which is exclu- 
sively its own, '' the light of the knowledge of 
the glory of God, in the appearance of Jesus 
Christ/ ^^ but also in that broader light wherein 

1 2 Cor. iv. 6. 



128 

will be seen the place it holds in the eternal 
purpose of God toward man, of which it is the 
crown. 

When thus to the experimental apprehension 
of the Gospel there is added the teaching which 
comes through a fuller perception of its connec- 
tion with that which preceded it in the spiritual 
history of the race, then I am convinced two 
results will follow: our thought of salvation 
will take on a broader meaning, and a richer 
meaning and depth of reality will be seen to at- 
tach to the Gospel salvation, heightened also by 
contrast with the salvation of natural religion. 

With this broader view of the divine purpose 
we shall see the unity and harmony of God^s 
dealings with man. This purpose has ever been 
the redemption of man from the power of sin, 
and thus his restoration into harmony with 
God. This can he fulfilled only in filial love, 
but is preceded in the history of the race and 
frequently in individual history, even of those 
who are in the Gospel light, by a training of 
ethical development, which also has its own 
blessing. 

It is manifest that the existence of love for 
God must be impossible (love being the highest 
form of harmony) apart from participation in 



129 . 

His nature by striving to do His will. The 
acceptance of the divine government being 
therefore an ever-present condition of spiritual 
life, the realization of this must be indepen- 
dent alike of circumstances and Dispensations. 
Whenever and wherever the divine will is 
accepted to a necessary degree^ known only to 
infinite wisdom, there will be an entrance into 
the promised salvation of a future life. But 
it is also true that the salvation contemplated 
by the Gospel requires with the acceptance of 
Christ's government an added quality in the 
spiritual life, a personal relation of penitential 
love to Christ, which can come only through 
seeing and accepting Him as the divine atone- 
ment for sin. 

Thus there appear to be two forms or condi- 
tions of spiritual life, each with its inherent 
relation to salvation^ and for which the require- 
ments are not entirely the same in form. The 
importance of this fact is emphasized when we 
reflect that the conditions for entering heaven 
must ever be unchangeable, and also that it is 
inconceivable that a change in the essential 
state of the soul should be brought about at 
death by an arbitrary exercise of divine power. 

For these apparent contradictions the pre- 

9 



130 

vailing view of gospel truth seems to afford no 
harmonious solution. 

Believing, however, that there is no real 
contradiction if the right point of view is 
obtained, I have endeavored to show the 
probability of the truth, that salvation is 
twofold in its nature. One form would be 
the continuance in a future life of all those 
who have sincerely accepted the divine gov- 
ernment revealed in the heart and conscience, 
and so been joined to the divine life in right- 
eousness ; a righteousness or rightness of the 
law, though not fulfilled in love. The other 
is the salvation in this life of those who, 
being brought ^^ nigh by the blood of Christ,^^^ 
have entered into conscious sonship to God and 
found therein the elements of the life of Heaven 
realized here on earth. One is the salvation of 
the law, to be realized in the future ; the other, 
by its deliverance from the power of sin, is 
purely the salvation of the Gospel, and is to be 
known in this life as well as in the future. 

This view is certainly commended by its 
simplicity and its reasonableness. It is sup- 
ported by the comprehensive teaching of Scrip- 
ture, which is entirely consistent with the 

1 Eph. ii. 13. 



131 



strongest statements of the Apostle Paul as 
to the exclusive privileges and nature of the 
Gospel salvation. Every consideration based 
upon the justice, mercy, and love of the Al- 
mighty points to the improbability that it was 
the divine intention in Christ that any benefit 
through Him should be limited to those who 
accepted His Deity, or, that His coming should 
make less attainable thsit future salvation ever 
promised to sincere effort for obedience to the 
divine will. 

On the contrary, there is much to warrant 
the belief that all earnest coming to Christ 
(with continued faithfulness) will receive its 
blessing; that the ^^gift of God^^ in the in- 
carnate and crucified Christ was intended to 
help man in any way possible to a truer and 
fuller participation in the divine life. The 
vicarious view of Christ's death may be most 
helpful to some. Others may see it in the 
higher light, as an atonement necessary, not 
in order to change God's disposition, but to 
meet and satisfy subjectively the sinner's sense 
of condemnation for violated law, thus cleans- 
ing his conscience in the only way possible. 
Whether thus the full purpose of Christ's com- 
ing is realized in both such states, or whether 



132 



to others who cannot accept the truth of His 
Deity and Atonement the benefit through Him 
is limited to the help of His teaching and ex- 
ample to lift their lives to the high level of 
Gospel morality^ yet to all of these there is 
blessing, and only blessing, simply in propor- 
tion to the sincerity of their coming to Christ 
and their faithfulness to the light apprehended, 
with its corresponding degree of Christ-like- 
ness. Only thus, it seems to me, can the Gospel 
be relieved of the constructive charge of being 
merely an addition to the Law, and be seen 
according to the divine intention, as the ^^Glad 
Tidings ^^ of an infinite love. 

In the light of this view of salvation the 
simplicity of the truth replaces a confusion 
unfavorable in its influence upon the life of 
holiness. Incidental to this is the advantage 
of placing in harmonious relation several as- 
pects of truth of a minor character, which, from 
their connection with the main subject, have 
shared in the confusion referred to. These fall 
into their right places with one another, and 
with the greater truth behind them, in the light 
of twofold salvation. 

With a firm belief in the doctrine intended 
in the word ^' Trinity/^ I feel that the deepest 



133 



test of its truth and of Its value to mankind 
must be measured by the degree in which it 
harmonizes with Christ^ 9 teaching, and reflects 
His comprehensive sympathy with all sincere 
aspirations for the divine life. The conception 
of divine truth which regards it distinctively as 
righteousness and as love, will be most likely 
to commend to Unitarianism that view of the 
nature and work of Christ which we believe 
adds its invaluable blessing in this life to what- 
ever is possible without such evangelical belief. 

Mathematicians tell us that if two lines be 
supposed to rise perpendicularly from the hori- 
zon diametrically opposite each other, they 
would be seen by an observer at a point in the 
line between them, to converge as they rise and 
finally to meet in the zenith above him. Trans- 
ferring this thought to the sphere of spirit, — 
if I form my impression from what I see solely 
along the plane of earthly vision regarding the 
relation one to the other of two lives represent- 
ing certain extremes of religious doctrine, the 
conclusion would be that they could have noth- 
ing in common of the truth as it appears from 
the position I hold between them. 

But if I seek the true judgment seen only in 
the higher light of heavenly wisdom, I shall 



134 

find^ if those lives are really aspiring in their 
nature and not earth-bound^ and provided also 
my own gaze is directly upward^ that I shall 
see them drawing nearer together as they rise 
beyond earthly associations, and meeting with 
my own uplifted life, in the heavenly blue of 
eternal truth. 



I trust that the concurrent influence of the fore- 
going thoughts will promote the belief that the 
loyalty to Christ which most effectively supports 
the truths of His twofold nature and atoning 
death will be such as can acknowledge the pres- 
ence of His life in others, in whatever association 
it may be found. Nor would this be merely the 
half-disowned acknowledgment prompted by 
the heart against the protest of the judgment, 
but rather the cordial recognition which can 
come only from a conscious strength of position 
in the truth — from the intelligent perception of 
the nature of salvation and the principles 
underlying it, whereby is seen the harmonious 
connection between any lower union with the 
divine life in salvation, and that highest form 
of such union which is penitenial love and con- 
scious sonship through Christ, 



135 

Whether or not I have succeeded in pre- 
senting that which will commend itself as a 
reasonable and comprehensive statement of the 
truth under consideration, both loyal to the 
Gospel and in harmony with the broader 
thought of God^s everlasting purpose toward 
man, yet I can with confidence express the 
comfort I have myself found for some years 
past, as I have been enabled increasingly to 
see, in the higher light of the truth referred 
to, a beautiful harmony in that which before 
then had been confusing to my mind and a 
strain upon my belief in the divine justice. 
Above all was it acceptable to find that the 
view of the truth in which these difficulties 
were solved was one that also exalted my 
conception of the perfect love of God. My 
own confidence in evangelical truth has been 
strengthened as I have seen that the same 
love of which the Gospel is the glorious ex- 
pression still commends itself as love (even 
to my finite perception) in its dealings with 
honest doubt regarding the Deity of Christ when 
joined to sincere acceptance of the government 
of His spirit. 

With the clearer spiritual outlook thus en- 
joyed and the help thereby experienced, came 



136 

the desire (an evidence, I trust, of the holy 
source of that helpful light) to share these 
with any who, like myself, may have been 
conscious of a similar confusion. Nothing 
less sustaining than this desire could have 
encouraged perseverance in the effort — a diffi- 
cult one for me — to grasp and suitably pre- 
sent the truth which seemed to be felt rather 
than discerned. Spiritual weariness and a sense 
of inadequacy have attended this effort; but 
with the resulting discouragement came also the 
compensating thought, that therein I was joined 
in sweet and mystic fellowship with the ever- 
growing number of those who have sought to 
draw deeply from ^^ the well '^ of divine truth, — 
those who, in the attraction of a spiritual ideal at 
once consciously unattainable and yet deeply sat- 
isfying, have found alike the evidence and the 
inspiration of the life which is infinite love. 
This mingled consciousness is the seal to the 
reality of that response which finite weakness 
makes to the inspiration of the infinite. 

" Oh, thirst forever ardent, yet evermore content, 
Oh, true, peculiar vision of God omnipotent."^ 

I saw, however, as I believed, that which 
clearly commended itself to my own mind as 

1 Bernard of Cluny. 



137. 

light upon the divine thought in respect to 
man^s salvation; a line of light which, in its 
connection and its harmony with much else of 
the things of God, seemed like a golden thread 
of pure truth traceable throughout man's spirit- 
ual past, and expanding, under the rising sun 
of the Gospel day, into a pathway of light 
stretching out toward a distant future whose 
spiritual beauty will justify the loftiest words 
of ancient prophecy regarding it, as well as the 
many centuries of mingled struggle and aspira- 
tion, of suffering and of triumph requisite for 
its development. 

May the Eternal Spirit graciously regard the 
motive in this effort to present His truth, and 
overrule the results of any imperfect apprehen- 
sion of His all-important guidance ! May He 
add His indispensable blessing to whatever can 
be used by Him for the promotion of His cause, 
especially of that higher conception of salva- 
tion wherein is reflected the infinite character 
of the spiritual life in which man now poten- 
tially shares, ^' the breadth and length and depth 
and height of the love of * ^ * God which is 
in Christ Jesus our Lord'^^ — a conception of 
life involving thoughts of God which must in 

1 Ephesians iii. 18, 19, and Rom. viii. 39. 



138 

time supplant our human ideas of Him, and 
will increasingly characterize man^s spiritual 
consciousness as he rises into his true heritage 
in Christ, the goal of glorified humanity. 

^^Now unto the King eternal, immortal, in- 
visible * * * the only wise God our Saviour, 
be glory and majesty, dominion and power, 
both now and ever. Amen.'^^ 

"I'm apt to think the man 
That could surround the sum of things, and spy 
The heart of God and secrets of His empire. 
Would speak but love : with him the bright result 
Would change the hue of intermediate scenes, 
And make one thing of all Theology. '* 

Gambold. 

1 1 Timothy i. 17, and Jude xxy. 



APPENDIX. 



Note A to page 75.^ — Some substitute ^Mn- 
ward^' for ^' inner/^ and understand the '' in- 
ward light ^^ to be confined to the spiritual 
influence or light of Christ which shines in the 
Incarnation and reveals to the individual spirit 
the enlightening and saving truths that flow 
from the life and death of Christ. This view 
substantially denies the existence of any light 
of life in the soul of man except that which 
resulted from the outward coming of Christ; 
the thought advanced in these pages, however, 
as well as the direct references to the inner 
light, show that a broader view of it is taken. 
The inner light, or " light of Christ within/^ 
is regarded as the inward and spiritual appear- 
ance of Christ which has ever addressed the 
moral consciousness of man throughout his 
spiritual history. 

In this view Christ is seen to be in the fullest 
possible sense '' the light of the world. ^^^ His 

1 John viii. 12. 

(139) 



140 

manifestation in all men as the universal sav- 
ing grace is entirely in harmony with the fullest 
manifestation of that same life, power, and grace 
which is made possible in these last (the Gos- 
pel) days by the co-operating influence of the 
light which shines through His Incarnation 
and atoning death. 

Note B to page 85. — The term ^^ supernatu- 
ral ^^ is used in these pages with full regard to the 
fact that, if the truth to which it refers were 
viewed solely on its infinite side, there would 
be no place for any line of separation between 
^^ natural ^^ and ^^ supernatural.^' All would 
be seen as natural. All would be but higher 
and lower expressions of the one infinite cre- 
ative power. 

The use of terms, however, must be controlled 
by their fitness to express the intended mean- 
ing, and this must have regard to the custom- 
ary point of view. In referring, therefore, to 
manifestations of divine life and power which 
have largely influenced the physical and spir- 
itual life of man, it is needful to recognize the 
distinction between those which do and those 
which do not conform to human experience or 
to what might be expected under the ordinary 



141 

relation of cause and effect. There is thus a 
place for the term supernatural. Its use, how- 
ever, is consistent with the absolute view above 
stated if it is understood as meaning not that 
v/hich is above nature, but that which is higher 
nature, — not an influence independent of or 
opposed to nature, but a higher manifestation 
of the one divine power. 

Note C to page 110. — There are probably few 
passages in the sacred narrative that throw more 
light upon the fact of the twofold nature of our 
Saviour, as shown by the general belief therein 
during His life on earth, than Matt. xvi. IS- 
IS : ^' Whom do men say that I, the Son of 
man, am ? Some say that Thou art John the 
Baptist ; some Elias ; and others Jeremias, or 
one of the prophets. But whom say ye that I 
am ? Peter answered and said. Thou art the 
Christ, the Son of the living God/^ 

These words reveal the opinion of the people, 
and also of His disciples, that Christ was more 
than ^' a mere man.'^ The people, unenlightened 
spiritually, gave a lower interpretation to His 
^^ mighty works. ^^^ They found a convenient 
explanation of them in the supposed fact that 

1 Matt. xiii. 54. 



142 

John the Baptist or Elias or one of the prophets 
had reappeared in the flesh. Bat the spiritual 
perceptions of the disciples^ quickened through 
companionship with Him, found expression in 
the above words of Peter. It is noticeable that 
in his reply Peter ignored the title used by the 
Saviour, ^^the Son of man/^ This title He 
generally adopted in alluding to Himself. 
The reason for it probably is that in order 
that the benefit of His human relation to man 
should not be seriously affected by the evi- 
dences of His higher nature it was important 
that His Deity should be veiled, so far as was 
consistent with the object in view. In the 
freedom of His chosen companions our Saviour 
at times laid aside this caution, and so in the 
occasion before us He commended the spiritual 
discernment manifested in the higher title 
given by Peter. And, as though to give em- 
phatic confirmation to the truth in that reply, 
our Saviour followed it with the declaration 
that Peter's knowledge of Christ's true nature 
had been communicated to him by His ^^ Father 
which is in heaven.'' In this illustration of 
man's ability spiritually to apprehend divine 
revelation our Saviour proclaimed that a truth 
was presented of the utmost importance and 



143 

that it would be the foundation upon which, 
said He, ^^I will build my church/^ Thus 
to claim as His own the Church of God and 
to assume to lay its foundation for all time 
would have invited only ridicule if from the 
lips of one who was believed by His followers 
to be only a man. 

A writer has interestingly pointed out, that 
in all the passages of Scripture in which our 
Saviour alludes to the relation of Himself and 
His disciples to God, He always indicated a 
distinction between them by saying, '^ My 
Father and your Father ;'^ " My God and 
your God/^^ He does not say our Father or 
our God.^ This is significant both of the unity 
and also of the difference that existed. 

Note D to page 114. — A comprehensive view 
of the divine intention in the Gospel as the 
manifested grace of an infinite love justifies the 
belief that Christ may be received in any way 
that will most help any earnest soul to be truly 
Christ-like. Only thus could be met the end- 
less variations of mind and disposition, and the 



^ John XX. 17. 

2 The occurrence of these words in the " Lord's Prayer" (Matt^ 
vi. 9) manifestly constitutes no exception to the above statement. 



144 

effect of educational influences and general en- 
vironment. 

For this reason, and because also of our im- 
perfect knowledge of the ultimate relation of 
the subjective and the objective, I can accept 
the ^^ vicarious '^ view of the Atonement as con- 
structively true, while at the same time believ- 
ing that the highest view, the one most abso- 
lutely true, is quite different. This view is 
well expressed in the following quotation from 
Doctrine and Lifey by George B. Stevens : — 

'' The concrete expression of the biblical doc- 
trine — Le.y of the Atonement — is that in the 
humiliation, suffering, and death of Christ 
God has so manifested . . . His change- 
less, essential righteousness, and has so met 
the ends of punishment in the assertion of His 
holy displeasure at sin, that He can consistently 
forgive sin without punishing it. In other 
words, God in His mercy adopts another mode 
of action in reference to sin than that of pun- 
ishment. He substitutes for the punishment 
which is due to sin another method of vindi- 
cating sin's desert of punishment, thereby 
meeting the end of punishment. He did 
not substitute Christ for us in punishment, 
for the punishment of an innocent person 



145 



is a contradiction in terms. He graciously 
substituted for punishment another method of 
procedure, which was not punishment, but 
which served the purpose which punishment 
would have accoraplished, namely, the expres- 
sion of the divine righteousness. I believe that 
this is the true sense of substitution. It is not 
the substitution of Christ's punishment for 
ours ; it is the remission of punishment alto- 
gether and the substitution in its place of an- 
other method of revealing and indicating the 
holy displeasure of God against sin. This is 
the import of Paul's most explicit and signifi- 
cant assertion on the subject." 

Note E to page 116. — The Unitarian believes 
in the Divinity of Christ, but denies his Deity. 
The idea of Divinity has much in common with 
the idea of Deity, but there is a distinct difference. 
The Unitarian regards the Divinity of Christ as 
simply the manifestation, in the highest degree 
that ever existed, of that divine life which man, 
as a child of God and made in His image, is 
qualified to share. The Trinitarian also believes 
in the possible in-dwelling of Divinity, or the 
divine life in man, and believes that this is 
truly one in nature with that which was mani- 

10 



146 



fested in extreme degree in Christ. He believes, 
however, that in addition to and beyond this, 
Christ, as the ^^only begotten Son,^^^ held a 
peculiar relation to the Father, characterized 
by the possession of the attributes of God-head, 
making Him truly God manifest in the flesh. 
One of these attributes was a pre-existence with 
the Father. There were also forms of divine 
power and knowledge manifested which man is 
not qualified to share. These attributes, while 
different, were not of a higher character, ii 
indeed so exalted, as those attributes of love 
and holiness to which man is invited ; nor was 
the possession of them involved in nor did it 
affect the development of his higher nature in 
which man shares the divine life. 

While we cannot expect to understand the 
mysterious union in Christ of the infinite and 
the finite, yet we can understand the reason for 
such a union and we can see its adaptation for 
accomplishing the mission of Christ. It is 
manifest also that the results of that union 
have justified the infinite wisdom, power, and 
love revealed in the Incarnation of Christ. 

I can to some extent understand, while I do 
not sympathize with, the interest found by some 

1 John iii. 16. 



147 



minds in speculations upon the nature of Christ 
which are closely associated with the central 
feature of the Arian controversy. To me it 
appears, that for the attainment of the object in 
view, it was needful that Christ should have 
been truly human. Contradictory, however, 
as it may seem to us, it was equally needful 
that He should have been more than human. 
Yet we do but create greater difficulty than 
assistance for faith, if we encourage such a con- 
ception of the Deity of Christ, as unavoidably 
carries with it the suggestion that during any 
part of His life on earth the rest of the universe 
was, so to speak, emptied of God. It seems 
to me that the two postulates indicated in the 
foregoing stand forth with almost axiomatic 
clearness, and also that somewhere between 
them must meet the truths they respectively 
represent, — and in this thought I can rest. In 
such a view I find for myself that which keeps 
Christ as a man within the reach of sympathy, 
while at the same time it encourages the highest 
aspirations, and even satisfies them more com- 
pletely than would any conception of His mys- 
terious nature, which brought it within the 
reach of my mental apprehension. In the 
presence of that mystery we can adopt the 



148 

words of the apostle, laying aside all ^^contro- 
versy ^^^ of the human reason, — " Great is the 
mystery of Godliness ; God was manifest in the 
flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, 
preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the 
world, received up into glory /^^ 

1 " He " R. V. 2 1 Tim. iii. 16.. 



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